Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday directed the district administration of districts which are located at the bank of Ganges river to aware people living on the banks about the need for the conservation and safety of Gangetic dolphins in a bid to increase their numbers.
“U.P. administration will run a campaign for the safety and conservation of Dolphins. People will be made aware about how the Dolphins are special and play a critical role in maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity in rivers,” said the U.P. government, in a statement.
Half of the dolphins are estimated to be in the U.P. and the State last month declared it as an aquatic animal of the U.P. in a bid to increase the emphasis on the protection, conservation and promotion of this endangered mammal, and enhance the beauty of the Ganga River. It is estimated that more than 1,000 Dolphins are in U.P.
More than 20 districts in the State are located on the bank of river Ganges.
In recent times, Dolphins which are rare to be sighted across the Ganges have been seen breeding in Mirzapur, Varanasi, Brijghat, Narora, Kanpur, and other places with the State government arguing it is linked with improvement in biochemical demand (BOD), fecal coliform (FC) parameters and dissolved oxygen (DO), which is also validated by the assessment of river water quality carried out during the period 2014 to 2022 at 20 locations in the State.
