TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2003 THE TIMES OF INDIA
Way cleared for winged visitors TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2003 06:15:37 AM ] PANAJI: A grand party awaits winged tourists - there's plenty food and abundant freshwater. Various government departments are on an overdrive following a direction from the Bench of the Bombay High Court that the picturesque Carambolim lake should be de-weeded. The lake, spread over 70 hectares, is home to over a 100 species of birds, some of which fly from Russia, China and Mongolia. The chief conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden, Goa, D Pandey, said the lake has been cleared of the Salvina Molesta, a floating aquatic weed belonging to the family of floating fern and a native of Brazil, to make the lake habitable for the birds. This noxious weed has no true roots and multiplies into a dense mat that kills native plants and removes oxygen from water. ''Bird Life International, the Royal Society for Bird Protection, England, and the BNHS have together identified 450 important bird areas. Among them is the Carambolim lake,'' says member of the BNHS and the Calcutta-based nature club Prakriti Samsad, A K Sahay. The weed had made the birds stay away for quite some years. They will be encouraged to fly to Goa now, says Sahay. The arrival of the birds in October coincides with the beginning of the tourist season. Those taking the Konkan train would be in twittering company for the Karmali station in Old Goa is situated on the western embankment of the lake and offers a prolific and open view. The vegetation in the area offers a lot for the pecking crowd to choose from. The lake holds over 20 lakh cubic metres of water when flooded during monsoon. The respective affidavits filed by the departments ensure that the sluice gates are properly operated and the breaches in the dams are plugged so that there is no leakage and runoff and the birds can continue with their party. The Konkan Railway Corporation Limited will provide galvanised chain mesh on either side of the lake on the railway embankment to prevent any waste effluent or dry garbage from trains from flowing into the lake. +------------------------------------------------------------+ |RATE THIS ARTICLE | |------------------------------------------------------------| | 12345 | | 1=Poor, 3=Average, 5=Outstanding | |............................................................| ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
