Destruction of a Lake – a Ramsar Site – in India’s Northeast

Дата публикации: 23-02-2026 08:29:00

Construction activity, effluents and sewage are destroying the Deepor Beel in Assam.

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Located on the outskirts of Guwahati, the state capital of Assam and gateway to India’s northeastern region, is a freshwater lake, Deepor Beel. The lake is one of 96 sites in the country recognized as Ramsar Sites. However, construction debris, industrial effluents and sewage are destroying this wetland.

The Deepor Beel is around 40.14 sq km (25 sq miles) in area. It was designated in 2002 under the Ramsar Convention, which aims to conserve wetlands of international importance. Ramsar sites include freshwater lakes, marshes, mangroves, estuaries, and high-altitude lakes.

Subsequently, the Indian government proposed developing an area of 4.14 sq km (2.5 sq miles) as a bird sanctuary.

As many as 219 bird species, including more than 70 migratory and globally threatened species, are supported by the lake’s ecosystem. Bird Life International has also declared Deepor Beel as an Important Bird Area (IBA) with high priority for conservation. In addition, 50 species of fish, 12 reptiles, 6 amphibians, and 155 aquatic macrobiota have been spotted in the lake.

The Deepor Beel is fringed by the Rani-Garbhanga Wildlife Sanctuary, and therefore supports a large variety of wildlife species as well. The lake also provides a livelihood for a number of surrounding villages.

However, natural factors and human activities, including encroachment and proliferation of settlements, expansion of roads and industries, threats from the construction of a broad-gauge railway line on the periphery of the site, and the location of a garbage dumping spot in the vicinity, have taken a heavy toll on the Deepor Beel.

Once spread over a sprawling 4,000 hectares, the lake has now shrunk to 500 hectares. Dead fish and turtles floating on the lake are often reported. There have been incidents of elephants being run over by speeding trains near the lake. In 2019, the National Green Tribunal directed the Assam government to declare the lake and an adjacent sanctuary as an eco-sensitive zone. The tribunal said that the water body should be freed of all hydrophytes and the core area restored to its pristine condition.

The order had little effect on the government. Five years later, the Gauhati High Court halted the government’s attempt to denotify Deepor Beel as a wildlife sanctuary. The court also barred development activities in the vicinity of the wetland until the boundaries are officially defined. Last July, the central government issued a draft notification declaring an Eco-Sensitive Zone around the lake. Directions were issued to all the industrial units near the lake to comply with the norms, and a solid waste management plant was to be set up near the site. These initiatives notwithstanding, the water quality of Deepor Beel has shown no signs of improvement.

Meanwhile, plans have been firmed up for the chopping of over a hundred trees along the wetland for an elevated railway bridge.

According to conservationist Pramod Kalita, the new solid waste management plant has not been able to reduce pollution of the wetland as it lacks the capacity to manage the total waste generated in the city.

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