Takin triumphs

May 17, 2009: Fighting leeches and surprise rains, three ministers walked to Gasa and shot down a mega construction plan on the migratory route of the endangered national animal, the Takin.
With the plan dropped, the expansion will take place only at the present tshachhu (hot spring) site.
Talking to BT at the plan site in Gasa, the economic affairs minister, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, said Bhutan cannot afford to lose its pristine environment and rich biodiversity to development. Accompanying him where the agriculture minister, Lyonpo Pema Gyamtsho, and the home minister, Lyonpo Minjur Dorji.
At a time when the voices against the plan were feeble, the agriculture minister threw his weight behind concerned environmentalists.
“We can’t compromise with the conservation of the national animal,” he said in May last year, adding that the Takin issue will test the strength of Bhutanese in their commitment to conservation.
A part of the proposed Nu 30.7-million construction project near Gasa tshachhu across the narrow migration corridor would have affected the migratory pattern of the Takins.
A BT investigation last year found that the previous cabinet had approved land for the project in July 2007 despite objections from the forest department and a field study jointly done by engineers and park officials.
Without any Environmental Impact Assessment Clearance, the previous cabinet approved 4.5 acres land for the plan to construct three double-storey guest houses, a Basic Health Unit, a mani dungkhor (prayer wheel), a cafeteria, a neykhang (religious sanctum), and tenting ground.
If the present government had gone ahead with the plans it would have seriously affected Bhutan’s environmental credentials and the country’s famed conservation policies would have faced the danger of being snubbed as hogwash.
Following a string of BT stories in April and May, 2008, a multi-sectoral team went to inspect the proposed site to assess the environmental and socio-economic impact of the plan.
The team interviewed 19 of the 76 households in Khatey gewog over a period of two days.
Local people told the team that the construction would also disturb the local deities. Except the local gup all respondents opposed the plan.
The team has recommended the already constructed suspension bridge from the tshachhu site to the other side of the river and the migration corridor be removed.
The earlier proposed site also fell within the Jigme Dorji National Park, which is a protected area.
If the construction had gone ahead Bhutan would have been in a clumsy situation with the government flouting its own rules.
The Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan states that the ministry (of agriculture) may issue rules to regulate or prohibit any activity within a protected area. “Violation of such rule shall be an offence punishable with imprisonment which may extend to five months or a fine.”
The Takins have been protected as Schedule I animals under the Forest and Nature Conservation Act.
According to the Act, “All wild animals listed in Schedule I are declared to be totally protected whether or not in the government reserved forest and may not be killed, injured, destroyed, captured, collected, or otherwise taken.”
Speaking to BT earlier, a wildlife biologist, Tshewang R. Wangchuk, said the proposed site was not geologically suitable for construction and it wouldn’t go well with the spiritual beliefs of the people.
The site is also the habitat for many other wild animals such as sambar, barking deer, wild pig, monkey, goral, serow, Himalayan black bear and tiger.
The construction plan had gone full fledged when BT broke the issue and both National Assembly members from Gasa supported the plan.
But during the ministerial meeting held in Gasa with officials from the National Environment Commission, Jigme Dorji National Park, dzongkhag administration and representatives from the people, it was agreed that the proposed plan site will remain untouched.
The construction plan infact brought to the fore the plight of the ignored national symbol, 24 years after the Takin was declared Bhutan’s national animal.