Jharkhand pushing for ‘dolphin safari’ in Sahibganj

RANCHI, Jharkhand: The Government of Jharkhand has proposed a dolphin safari in two stretches of river Ganga in the Sahibganj district and Rajmahal.

Earlier, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, has sought proposals from the state government of Jharkhand for two places at Sahibganj and Rajmahal under the eco-tourism project to boost the tourism industry in the state.

Jharkhand government has proposed Singhidalan in Rajmahal and Ojhatoli in Sahibganj as “dolphin tourism sites”. The state aims to promote eco-tourism with the help of dolphin safari in these two stretches on the river Ganga. Last year, the state government has proposed to establish a dolphin sanctuary, which would have been the second dolphin sanctuary in India.

In October 2020, under the National Mission for Clean Ganga’ (NMCG), safari project was launched in six places namely, Brijghat, Bijnor, Prayagraj and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Kahalgaon in Bihar and Bandel in West Bengal. Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) is a freshwater mammal species, also known by the name ‘Susu’. It received the status of National Aquatic Animal on May 18, 2010. It is protected under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, and has been declared an endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature.