Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary

• Ministry of Environment and Forest has issued a draft notification declaring one-kilometre area from the boundaries of the Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kangra district as an eco-sensitive zone.

 LIKELY IMPACT

• 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 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.

ABOUT PONG DAM LAKE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

• 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.
• It covers an area of almost 307 sq km.
• The Pong Dam is the highest earth fill dam in India and was constructed in 1975.
• In 1983, the entire reservoir was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary by the Himachal Pradesh government.
• Pong Dam Lake was designated a Ramsar site in 2002.
• Flora– Acacia, Jamun, Shisham, Mango, Mulberry, Ficus Kachnar, Amla, and Prunus.
• Fauna– Sambar, Barking Deer, Wild Bear, Nilgai, Clawless Otter, and Leopards etc.
  • More than 420 bird species belonging to 56 families have been recorded in the lake.