GUWAHATI: The graceful black-necked crane, which spends every winter in the Zemithang area of Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district bordering China, finds itself caught between the country's development narrative and the religious beliefs of the Buddhist Monpa tribe.
For the past few years, the Monpas of Tawang district have been expressing fear that the black-necked crane, called Trung-Trung Karmo in local parlance and revered as the incarnation of the 6th Dalai Lama, will stop visiting once construction on the 780-MW Nyamjang Chhu hydroelectric project begins.
The community awaits the annual arrival of these birds and considers them to be auspicious. The globally-threatened species is included in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Zemithang is one of its two wintering sites in the country.
Buddhist lamas, under the banner Save Mon Region Federation (SMRF), have been demanding that the construction of the Nyamjang Chhu project should not be allowed as the barrage of the mega dam falls 'smack in the middle of the wintering site of the black-necked crane'. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), in its publication 'Threatened Birds of India: Their Conservation Requirements', says the barrage of the Nyamjang Chhu project is located within the 3-km stretch between Brokenthang and Zemithang river which forms the birds' wintering site.
The SMRF has been campaigning against 13 hydroelectric projects in Tawang that pose a threat to Buddhist religious and cultural sites. It recently wrote to the expert appraisal committee of the MoEFCC expressing unhappiness over the Tawang river basin study.
General secretary of SMRF lama Lobsang Gyatso said loss of the black-necked crane would be tantamount to losing a critical part of Buddhist culture. "The crane features in verses composed by His Holiness, the 6th Dalai Lama (Gyalwa Tsangyang Gyatso). Moreover, the bird can also be seen in the thangkas (scroll paintings) that adorn monasteries," he said.
Gyatso added that Tawang is considered to be holy in ancient Buddhist texts and it is believed that Guru Padmasambhava had set foot on this land.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/Buddhist-Monpas-fight-to-save-feathered-friends/articleshow/48687217.cms