Tampara Lake

• The National Green Tribunal, Eastern Zone, has directed the Odisha government not to go ahead with ‘illegal’ construction in and around Tampara Lake.

ABOUT TAMPARA LAKE

• It is a designated Ramasar site and one of the largest picturesque freshwater lakes of the Odisha.
• It is spread across 337.86 ha with a length of 5.8 km and a width of 670 metres in Ganjam district,
• It supports at least 60 species of birds, 46 species of fishes, at least 48 species of phytoplanktons, and more than seven species of terrestrial plants and macrophytes.
• There is a patch of forest with width of 2 km that separates Bay of Bengal from the lake.
• The wetland is an important habitat for vulnerable species such as Cyprinus carpio, common pochard (Aythya ferina), and river tern (Sterna aurantia).
• Tampara is already placed in the Wetland Atlas prepared by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2010.