GREATER NODAI: In a situation never seen before, Surajpur Wetland , a perennial wetland on the outskirts of Greater Noida , which is fed by rainfall, Hawaliya drain or Tilapta Canal , has gone entirely dry except for a tiny patch of hyacinth covered marsh. There are no birds to be seen except for a small flock of cattle egrets in a corner.The entire marsh, which is at least expected to be wet, is a parched land. The fish population, which is the main source of food for the present peak breeding season, is obviously dead.Ram Avtar, a local resident and an employee at the wetland, told TOI, “It has been like this for over last two months. There is no water supply, so the entire area dried up slowly. Nobody was there to take note of the situation. What can we do if the water is not reaching here?” The area is dusty and parched. Though there is greenery in parts, to a large extent the region seems unkempt.“We have never seen anything like this before. The sight is scary. Since the breeding season is affected, it will obviously have a long term impact on the ecology of the entire area,” said Vikrant Tongad, an environmentalist and a local resident. It was he who discovered the state of the wetland this morning.Surajpur wetland is a major green lung for Greater Noida. The catchment area of the wetland is 308 hectares of which 60 hectares is the waterbody alone. Surajpur wetland is remarkable for its bird population including species such as Asian openbill stork, white-necked stork, black-crowned night heron and black-headed ibis. Significantly, the wetland also supports the breeding of some rare birds like bristled grassbird, black-necked stork and sarus crane in Delhi NCR.At the wetland, there are 186 species of birds belonging to 44 families. Out of these 102 species are resident, 53 species are winter migrant, 28 species are summer migrant and three species are passage migrant.“This is absolute criminal treatment of a rich ecology which so far had such a huge variety of fish and birds. Infact, more and more birds had started visiting Surajpur in recent years than other marshes and sanctuaries. The wetland has been killed by construction and alterations made by the forest department in the topography to contsruct an ecopark. There must be some change in the landscape, which has prevented water from draining into the catchment and it should be investigated,” Anand Arya, birder and environment law activist, said.However, the irrigation department claimed that the water source connecting to Tilpata drain, which ends in the wetland has been cut off due to ongoing repairwork for last two months at a railway ‘syphon’ called Dairy Skinner village, two kilometres away from Surajpur. “We had to cut off the source of water to the wetland because of some railway repairwork. We hope to release the water soon,” Vipin Kumar a senior officer from the irrigation department stated.The forest department has claimed the situation is temporary. “I was on leave for over a month and some forest department work has suffered. We will see that the situation is corrected as soon as possible. Monsoon is only weeks away, so hopefully the situation will improve,” HV Girish chief conservator, state wildlife crime control department, said.

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