Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and at least two Union ministers will participate in the national-level World Wetlands Day celebration at Sultanpur National Park in Gurugram on Wednesday.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav will be the chief guest of the event, which will also be attended by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Notably, Sultanpur National Park and Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary were declared Ramsar sites in May 2021.
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands. It is named after the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea, where the treaty was signed on February 2, 1971.
The Sultanpur National Park is located on the Gurugram-Jhajjar highway, 15 km from Gurugram and 50 km from Delhi. It is spread over 350 acres. “The avifauna-rich habitat of Sultanpur was earlier notified as a wildlife sanctuary on April 2, 1971. The status of the park was upgraded to National Park on July 5, 1991."
“Every year, nearly 50,000 migratory birds arrive at Sultanpur from various parts of the world, mainly Eurasia, in search of feeding grounds and to pass the winter. In winter, Sultanpur provides a picturesque panorama of migratory birds such as sarus cranes, demoiselle crane, northern pintail, northern shoveler, red-crested pochard, waders, greylag goose, gadwall, Eurasian wigeon, black-tailed godwit etc,” the government stated.
The park is also home to cobra, monitor lizard, hedgehog, Indian hare, yellow monitor lizard, porcupine, jackal, blue bull. The park falls on the Asian Flyway and hence a number of birds on their forward and backward journey rest here.
An exercise on bird count is also underway in various parts covering the entire state, the government said. Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is a freshwater lake and is also the largest in Haryana. It is located in Jhajjar district.
Covering a little over 1,000 acres, it was notified as a Wildlife Sanctuary on July 5, 1985. The lake forms an important part of the ecological corridor along the Sahibi River, which traverses from Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan to the Yamuna via Masani Barrage.
At least 80 species of migratory birds and more than 100 resident species have been recorded here. Around 40,000 migratory birds visit Bhindawas during the winter.
With inputs from PTI.
