West Bengal govt to set up dolphin breeding centre to help conserve Gangetic dolphin

In a bid to boost conservation efforts of the endangered Gangetic dolphin the West Bengal government has decided to set up a breeding center for the species in the stare.

State Forest Minister Rajib Banerjee said that the breeding centre will be set up at the confluence of the rivers Hooghly and Ajay in the state.

“We are actively considering setting up a breeding centre for the Ganjetic dolphins. Once the plan is finalized the work for setting up the required infrastructure will start,” said Banerjee.

Speaking to journalists at a Forest Department event at Katwa on Wednesday in East Bardhaman district the Minister also said that the Forest Department is also launching an awareness campaign for conservation of Ganjetic dolphins.

He inaugurated a speedboat to keep track of the movement of the dolphins and also unveiled a special GPS enabled vehicle called Airavat which will be used to monitor the movement of elephants in West and East Bardhaman along with Birbhum district.

Elaborating further on the state government’s awareness campaign for Gangetic dolphins Ravi Kant Sinha said that the centre will be set up at the Katwa town near the Ganges where the freshwater mammal is often spotted.

“The awareness campaign will focus on increasing public participation in dolphin conservation and will also raise awareness against poaching of dolphins,” said Sinha.

The centre is being set up by the South East Circle of the West Bengal Forest Directorate.

The Forest Department has recently taken up major projects such as setting up a mini zoo at a tiger rescue centre in North Bengal and it also has plans to set up the largest leopard safari in the country.

It has also taken initiatives to reduce man-animal conflict in the Sundarbans by proving villagers with equipments for bee keeping to they don’t have to enter the forest to collect honey risking tiger attacks.