Asia’s first dolphin research centre at Patna University on the cards

PATNA: Patna University (PU) is likely to have Asia’s first dolphin research centre soon. Necessary groundwork for setting up this centre has already been completed and a proposal for the allotment of two acres of land on the PU campus is likely to be cleared by the PU Syndicate scheduled to meet on January 23.
The state cabinet has already cleared the proposal for setting up National Dolphin Research Centre on the PU campus as per the recommendation of the state wild life council.A steering committee consisting of experts and academics has been set up for the proper functioning of the centre for protection, conservation and development of dolphins mainly found between Kahalgaon and Sultanganj. The government is also in the process of preparing dolphin research centre sub-rules.
PU zoology department head and state’s dolphin task force chairman Ravindra Kumar Sinha said the state government has sanctioned Rs19.16 crore for the project. The centre, based on international standards will be an autonomous body and will be set up on the bank of the Ganga opposite Patna Law College. The building of the centre will be constructed by the Bihar Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation. It will have three laboratories, a museum, a convention centre and a seminar hall. This institution will be registered under the Society’s Registration Act, he said.
The institution will be headed by director and will have a secretary. PU students will assist in the research work. The institution will also serve as a river research centre and run some post-graduation courses on the related subjects, said Sinha. The central government declared dolphin a national aquatic animal on October 5, 2009. There are only about 2,500 dolphins in the Ganga basin, according to a 2006 survey, of which 60% are found exclusively in Bihar. The mammals are found at the confluence of the Ganga and Saryu rivers at Doriganj in Saran district, confluence of the Ganga and Gandak at Sonepur in the same district and the confluence of the Ganga and Kosi at Kursela in Katihar district.
The number of dolphins has been falling mainly because of the increasing pollution of the river water and indiscriminate killing of the animal by some fishermen. Decrease in the depth of rivers due to increasing siltation and rise in industrial and municipal effluents have also led to reduction in the habitat of the mammal and decline in its population, said Sinha.
The Gangetic river dolphin is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China, the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America. The Gangetic river species, found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, is blind and finds its way and prey in the river waters through ‘echoes’.