The Forest Department, in association with various social and voluntary organisations, will be launching a drive to clean the Tungabhadra at Hampi on June 24.
The drive is being organised to create awareness among the public about the need to keep the river clean from pollution, as it is not only sacred, but also a conservation reserve for otters and a habitat for other aqua species.
The drive will be flagged off by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) K.S. Sugara and PCCF (Wildlife) Anur Reddy.
Volunteers from Ballari and Koppal districts are being involved to create awareness, according to Deputy Conservator of Forest (Ballari division) Takat Singh Ranawat.
Smooth-coated otter or Indian smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) are found in the entire length of the river and litter in burrows made under the bushes on the river bank or inside the rocky caves within the river. The mugger crocodile or Indian marsh crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) is a fresh water crocodile that is commonly seen basking on rocks surrounded by water in the Tungabhadra near Anegundi, Hampi, Kariyammanagadde, and Bukkasagara river side areas. Some rare species of turtles, including soft shelled turtles, are found in the river. There are about 100 species of fish, including the endemic Deccan masher and Tunga garr found, in the river.
Samad Kottur, Wildlife scholar and founder of Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWaN), after carrying out a research on the river fauna, prepared a proposal to declare the river — from Holey Mudlapura to Kampli — as a conservation reserve which was accepted by the State Wildlife Board in 2012 and declared Tungabhadra Otter Conservation Reserve .
