MAJESTIC SARUS STAGES COMEBACK

Involvement of farmers in conservation helps the sarus crane population soar in eastern Uttar Pradesh over the past decade

- BHAGIRATH

YOGENDRA KUMAR Kanojia eagerly awaits the months of July and December every year. In July, he locates sarus crane nests in his village and in December, he assesses the bird’s population. The village has two ponds—one spans 11 hectares (ha), the other just over 1.6 ha. The surrounding fields are prime nesting cites for the crane. Kanojia usually takes a few days to complete the survey. He sets out early each morning, binoculars in hand, and works till the evening.

A resident of Baidouli village in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj district, Kanojia runs a photo studio in Nichlaul tehsil, 2 km from his home. However, he is better known in his village for his role as a sarus mitra—a friend of the sarus crane.

In 2013, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), a Noida-based organisation, started a Sarus Habitat Securement Project in about a 100 villages in 10 districts of the state: Maharajganj, Bahraich, Siddharthanagar, Shravasti, Balrampur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Pratapgarh, Barabanki, Faizabad. Baidouli is one of the villages selected under the project

Under the initiative, WTI set up a Sarus Conservation Committee, comprising 12-15 village residents, and a Pond Management Committee, which includes all individuals whose fields lie near the pond, to help protect the cranes. Since the start of the project, Kanojia has worked as president of Baidouli's Saras Conservation Committee as well as the village's sarus mitra.