The Wildlife Division of the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department is all set to prepare an inventory of land use and other activities adjacent to the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary for declaring it an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) for conservation of the Kolleru Lake ecosystem.
A decade ago, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) asked the State government to identify the ESZ of the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a portion of Kolleru Lake.
Kolleru Lake was declared as a ‘Ramsar Convention’ site in 2022. It is Asia’s largest freshwater lake and serves as a breeding ground for various migratory bird species. The ESZ tag enables the protection of the lake and its ecosystem from various threats by restricting various activities.
Headed by Eluru District Collector V. Prasanna Venkatesh, a committee has recently been constituted to propose the conferring of the ESZ tag to the Union Ministry. The officials representing the Irrigation, AP Pollution Control Board and Revenue officials are also part of the committee.
Role of State govt.
In a maiden meeting of the committee held on October 3, Mr. Prasanna Venkatesh has directed officials to share the details, records and issues of the Kolleru Lake with the Eluru Wildlife Management Division for preparing the proposal of the ESZ.
“Eluru Revenu Divisional Officer N.Sk. Khazawali has been entrusted with the task of conducting Grama Sabhas in the villages located within the Kolleru Lake ecosystem to collect their opinions which will be included in the ESZ proposal,” said Mr. Prasanna Venkatesh.
DFO Wildlife Division (Eluru Range) S. Ravisankar said that the inventory of the land use and various activities including industrial activity adjacent to the Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary was mandatory to prepare the ESZ proposal. Kolleru Lake falls in the Central Asian Flyway Zone of migratory birds. DFO (Territorial-Eluru) Ravindeer Dhama, Irrigation Superintendent Engineer K. Srinivasa Rao and other officials were present.
