PONG WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

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Context

• The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has issued a draft notification declaring a one-kilometer area from the boundaries of the Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kangra district as an Eco-Sensitive Zone.

Details

• Commercial activity like the construction of hotels, resorts, or any kind of polluting industry will not be allowed in the eco-sensitive zone around the Pong Dam sanctuary.
• The notification also prohibits the laying of overhead electric or communication towers in Eco Sensitive Zone.
• The establishment of Saw Mills, brick kilns, or commercial use of firewood would be banned in the area.

In a nutshell,

• Commercial activities like the construction of hotels and resorts or any polluting industry will not be allowed in the eco-sensitive zone.
• Setting up of electric or communication towers will be prohibited.
• The establishment of sawmills, brick kilns or commercial use of firewood will be banned.
• Thousands of villages in Kangra will be affected if the notification is implemented.

Pong Dam Lake

• Pong Dam Lake (also known as Maharana Pratap Sagar) is a manmade reservoir formed due to the construction of Pong Dam on Beas River in the wetland zone of Shivalik hills in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
• The Pong Dam is the highest earth fill dam in India and was constructed in 1975.
• Pong Dam Lake was designated a Ramsar site in 2002 under the Ramsar criteria 5 and 8.
• This lake is one of the best Bird’s Paradise in the world.
• The reservoir is bounded by the rugged Dhauladhar mountain range, the low foothills of the Himalaya on the northern edge of the Indo-Gangetic plains.