Chandigarh, April 25
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set a three-month deadline for the state of Punjab and its functionaries to take a decision on fencing the Rehmapur-Takhni wildlife sanctuary in Hoshiarpur.

The directions by a Division Bench of the high court came on a petition filed in public interest by an advocate, Davinder Singh Dadhwal. In his petition against the state of Punjab and other respondents, Dadhwal had alleged that the animals, approximately 30,000 in number, were regularly coming out of the sanctuary because of non-fencing.

Expressing apprehensions regarding the safety of life, property and livestock, the petitioner had added that the animals were causing damage to crops. "Human beings, as well as pet animals, had also turned vulnerable," he had told the court.

The development is significant as the sanctuary is home to sambar, barking deer, wild boar, hare, jackal, jungle cats and birds. Besides this, the sanctuary has cobra, garden lizard, hog deer, Indian pangolin, mongoose, monitor lizard, porcupine, python, rat snake and red jungle fowl.

Covered with dry deciduous, moist deciduous scrub and chir pine forests, the sanctuary is situated at a distance of about 15 km from Hoshiarpur. Spread over an area of 382 hectares, the sanctuary is situated at the foothills of the Shivalik range and is part of the foothill ecosystem. The sanctuary is known to be rich in floral and faunal diversity and is included in the list of protected areas, prepared by the Punjab Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation.

The HC asserted: "Since the petitioner has not submitted any demand or made any representation before coming to this court, we direct the respondents to treat the present petition as the representation and act thereon…"