CCTV cameras installed to check poaching of birds in Pong Dam

Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, December 10

With the arrival of thousands of migratory birds at Pong Dam, the Wildlife Division of the Forest Department has initiated CCTV surveillance of the international wetland spread over 24,529 hectares.

Krishan Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, here said high-resolution long-range CCTV cameras would be installed on the sensitive locations to keep an eye on the poaching activity in and around the reservoir.

The Pong reservoir was created in 1975 on the Beas in the wetland zone of the Shivalik Hills. The reservoir is a wildlife sanctuary and one of the 26 international wetland sites declared in India at the Ramsar convention.

The lake was declared a Ramsar Wetland site on account of its rich waterfowl diversity for conservation and sustainable use of the wetland. The reservoir and its location have attracted migratory birds from Central Asian countries, including Siberia and Austria.

More than 220 bird species of 54 families have been recorded in the wetland during the waterfowl census in February 2015 totalling 1,30,000 birds in the Pong Dam. The major species of migratory birds include bar-headed geese, common teal, Eurasian coots, northern pintail, rudy shelduck, plovers, black stork, northern lapwing etc.

The DFO said three cameras were being installed on the strategic locations having a clear vision up to 1.5 km and 26 persons had been appointed around the lake to keep a vigil on the poaching.

He said no incident of poaching was reported. Speaking on the census of the birds, he said the census would be conducted in the last week of January or in the first week of February 2018 as that would be the best time for the task.