[ Prem Chetry ]
ZEMITHANG, 22 Dec: A pair of migratory black-necked cranes arrived at Nyamjang Chhu in Pangchen valley here in Tawang district on Friday.
Lumpo village GB Nawang Chotta said, “A pair of black-necked cranes has arrived in the valley. In order to ensure their safe and undisturbed sojourn, quarry and crusher activities in Nyamjang Chhu will be stopped for at least a month.”
WWF field assistant Pemba Tsering Romu said, “It was pertinent to create awareness among the locals about the significance of the black-necked cranes.”
In 2021-’22, Romu, along with Dechin Pema, launched intensive awareness programmes, and organised meetings with GBs, youths and villagers to conserve the habitats of these rare seasonal visitors.
“The GBs of six villages in Zemithang circle – Shocktsen (three villages) Muchat, Kelengteng and Lumpo – unanimously decided to conserve the habitats. Accordingly, they decided that, on the arrival of the black-necked cranes, all sort of works or extraction should be stopped for at least one month, and no mining machines should be used, and a penalty of Rs 10,000 along with seizure of machines and materials, in case of violation, will be imposed.”
Meanwhile, Zemithang EAC Deewan Mara on Thursday issued an order shutting down quarries and crusher units along the banks of the Nyamjang Chhu for 20 days. He warned that “violation of the order will attract a penalty of Rs 10,000 and legal action.”
A short 3-km stretch of the Nyamjang Chhu river, between Brokenthang and Zemithang, is one of the only two regular, long-term wintering sites of the bird in India.
The other wintering site is Sangti valley, in neighbouring West Kameng. Chug valley in the same district is also a known wintering site for black-necked cranes.
The National Green Tribunal in a landmark judgment on 7 April, 2016, had suspended the environmental clearance granted to the Nyamjang Chhu project’s barrage site, submergence of which will destroy the wintering site of the bird. The appeal had been filed by the Save Mon Region Federation.
The cranes are revered by the Monpas as the embodiment of the 6th Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Tsangyang Gyatso, who was born in Tawang in 1683.
