Punekars, Russians, Ukrainians & Flamingos!

 

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“What is a fish without a river? What is a bird without a tree to nest in? What is an Endangered Species Act without any enforcement mechanism to ensure their habitat is protected? It is nothing” … Jay Inslee

Jay Robert Inslee is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Sometimes I wonder about USA as a society & not just as a most developed country (self-proclaimed though) because if on one side they have people like Jay Inslee & many such who always are vocal about environmental issues then on other side (realistic one) USA is main culprit for degradation of environment at large with its huge Carbon Foot Print i.e industrialization & pollution! May be, thanks to these people who has maintained or say trying to maintain a balance or else the god also wouldn’t have been able to save the fish & the trees is a fact. But joke is, in USA they, as a society are very keen or careful in maintaining their habitats whatsoever are remaining & take extreme care (read as, show or display) in conservation of habitats with very stringent laws for the same! Unfortunately, when it come to our beloved country, we do have laws but we neither care to follow them nor the system (read as govt as well people) are serious about making these laws of conserving the habitats works! May it be not wearing helmet or mask, may it be spitting or peeing in public places or may it be throwing garbage on roads or in rivers, we just don’t care not even for ourselves leave apart for environment or some specie! I remember visiting USA first time & at Statue of Liberty, New York, there was a sign board (this is in 1996) , “Fine $2500 for throwing litter”, imagine fine of Rs 1,70,000 plus for throwing garbage on roads or in public places in our country, we all will eb beggars!

Sorry to start the sharing on such sad or negative note but truth is bitter most of the time & more bitter when it’s about damage of the environment, so be it! That way I have been visiting habitats around Pune since long for photography yet while making a film “Wild Wild Pune” for conservation of the habitats & wild life around Pune (Thanks to Jungle Belles, Nature Walk & Magarpatta City) I got to visit these habitats from the angle of conservation & issues related & the bitterness is outcome of those visits!  First & foremost, let me tell you may it be Grasslands, Patches of Western Ghats (Mulshi/ Tamhini), Bhimashankar or Waterbodies like Ujani, all these habitats are in extreme danger which once were rich with biodiversity & the sole reason is we the Punekars or say citizens in the entire Pune region & not just Pune city! Many won’t like it as they say, why we are at blame when we haven’t even visited these places (such as Ujani back waters) you are mentioning, & exactly this is one of the main reasons of the destructions of these wonderful habitats as we are so ignorant as most of us even doesn’t have time to visit these places as we don’t know importance of them! And it’s this ignorant approach towards the habitats around us (read as Pune region) which has made many species including their homes gone for ever, just the way Russians are driving away the Ukrainians at present!

Some may think my comparison of Punekars with Russians as bit extreme but we may not be attacking the natural habitats with tanks & guns & bombing them from air but we are doing a lot worse than that! Example is when I visited Ujani backwaters to click flamingos & other birds (my friend wanted to click Osprey, a hawk family water prey bird), it was week day & tourists were less yet what I noticed is plastic garbage which are worst than bombs for the water birds & species. There is no special provision to collect or disposal of the garbage generated by the tourists which come in thousands of numbers on week-ends to see the flamingos. As well no awareness boards or any such effort, neither by NGO’s nor by Forest dept is seen around leave apart monitoring the same! Agreed, the locals for whom tourism is the only source of the survival are taking some efforts but they lack two things, resources & knowledge & here is where again we are making the damage by doing nothing! Just like we visit Tadoba or Kanha & click tiger’s snaps & come back, here also those which visits Ujani dam, enjoys the boat ride, click selfies on background of flamingos, eat missal pohe or fish curry & come back, leaving back lots of garbage in the form of bislery water bottles & Lays Chips packets & wrappers of food parcels, that’s all!

If this is not sufficient when we come back to our city which is on the upstream of Ujani Dam then also we keep on attacking Ujani habitats by caring a hoot about our civic senses regarding habitat conservation. We (read as society) don’t treat waste-water & discharge it untreated, in the rivers as well we keep polluting all the natural nallahs which once were streams & all these polluted water carrying streams joins Mula , Mutha rivers which in the end discharges all our bombs, bullets (in the form of plastic waste & garbage) in to the Ujani dam i.e. a home to the flamingos & hundreds of species which survives on fresh water in the dam & which are polluting it ignorantly! At the same time, we spend thousands of rupees for our birthday parties or marriages or trips to abroad but we don’t spend or think on this aspect that how we can make life at these habitats a bit more comfortable. For e.g., places like Dongargoan or Dalaj (along Solapur highway) where there is arrangement of boats to see the water birds, here we don’t have any proper (read as safe) boarding jetty also. Right from elder people to kids, all has to hop in the boats with risk of falling down in water by using a floating iron platform, yet no organization or individual thinks of spending to build a small jetty which will make life easier for the locals as well as tourists. If this is condition of getting in to the boats itself then lesser, we speak is better about other infrastructure such as waiting areas at boating point or enough (and clean) washrooms for the tourists & the outcome is, more pollution of the water body as well less spending at these places by the tourists which itself is a setback for the locals. As do mind, when you are in happy& joyful mood then you end up spending more especially on the trip & if you are irritated by lack of proper & basic facilities on the trip then you end up spending less, its basic human psychology, & Ujani back water isn’t exception to the same!

Need of the time is, to make people (read as, citizens of Pune region) aware about this damage not to just Ujani backwaters but all such habitats & make them understand not just their duty about conservation but what can be done to undone the damage by us to these places! Indeed, there is forest dept to look after about the threats to the habitats but the real threat is from outside of the forests (habitats) i.e., from the towns & cities around these habitats! And on top of it, we have industries mushrooming around waterbodies as water is basic need of most industries & the lands around are being used for plotting as well other uses than agriculture again causing more pollution for the waterbody! And end result of all our combined such behaviour (read as attack) on the habitats like Ujani backwaters is, someday the flamingos will stop coming here & find some another place! Now you will understand the analogy between we the Punekars & the Russians, as the means of attack, intentions behind may be different but the end result for the Flamingos is same which is for the Ukrainians, right?

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Sanjay Deshpande 

 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4xX7eopH5o&t=5s

 

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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2021/09/choosing-right-home.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-post_21.html

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