Dam submerging a Portion of Cheer Sanctuary

While the wildlife officials are busy looking for new reintroduction sites for the Cheer Pheasants, a portion of the Majathal Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh is slated to be submerged by the construction of a hydro-electric project - the Kol dam. About 9 sq. kms. of the sanctuary are going to be submerged when the dam, being constructed on Satluj river in Bilaspur district by NTPC, starts functioning in 2013.

A portion of the adjoining Darlaghat Sanctuary was denotified in 2006 to permit limestone mining for a cement factory.

http://himachal.us/2010/11/30/himachal-environmentalists-oppose-submergence-of-sanctuary-in-kol-dam-reservoir/23209/news/ravinder

Wildlife department officials are quoted to state that the department will be monitarily compensated for the loss of sanctuary land, which will be used for the Cheer conservation project.