There is no typo here. It sounds unbelievable, but the Orissa government allocated just Rs1,000 in its budget earlier this year for conserving the Olive Ridley turtle, an endangered species.
The allocation itself is in response to long-pending demands from the state’s wildlife department and various non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace. This particular budget head was created last year but no allocation was made then.
Last year, some 6.93 lakh female turtles came ashore on the various beaches of Orissa to lay their eggs in the sand. This means the government is spending 14 paise per 100 turtles! Male turtles stay in the sea and rarely come ashore.
Embarrassed officials say that funds from other sources are available to help this endangered species. “We arrange and divert money from different sources to carry out programmes for turtle conservation,” said deputy conservator of forest, Dillip Swain. For instance, Rs34 crore was allocated for the state’s wildlife project. The Centre too sends grants to protect the reptiles. Putting the figures together, officials say they have about Rs35 lakh to help the turtles. In the budget for 2010-11, officials would insist that Rs10 lakh be allocated
Wildlife activists want the government to put in more resources and effort. “The budgetary allocation of Rs1,000 only shows the level of importance the government attaches to the endangered turtles,” lamented Sanjiv Gopal, oceans campaign manager, Greenpeace India. “What is the point in creating a special budget head if adequate resources are not provided to the forest department to fulfil its responsibilities?” he said. According to Gopal, the government should allocate Rs70 lakh to save the turtles.
Meanwhile, the turtle eggs have begun to hatch at the three major nesting grounds at Gahirmatha, the Devi river mouth in Puri district, and the Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam district. Each turtle lays anywhere between 110 to 160 eggs, but the survival rate is less than one per thousand in the open. Nests are a favourite target of other animals.
Those that survive often fall prey to human activities, such as fishing trawlers. Though the state government has banned all types of fishing by trawlers within 20 km from the seashore near the nesting sites from November 1 to May 31, many trawlers disobey this law. Worse, most of these boats do not carry the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) which might save the endangered reptiles.
In the breeding season of 2008-09, over 7,000 were recorded dead along the Orissa coast from Chilika to Paradip, a distance of 130 kilometres. Wildlife activists fear this year the toll will be 14,000 to 15,000.
Wildlife activists complain that the state government should do much more to save the turtles. “The government is not at all serious,” lamented Biswajit Mohanty, secretary, Orissa Wildlife Society.
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