Between April and June this yr, the banks of the Vishwamitri River in Vadodara grew to become the stage for a fragile balancing act as authorities undertook large dredging to forestall future floods whereas concurrently working to protect the river’s wealthy and fragile biodiversity.

Engineering meets ecology on the Vishwamitri River

Dr Ranjitsinh Devkar, Assistant Professor of Zoology at Maharaja Sayajirao College of Baroda, is spearheading this unprecedented operation. He led a group of volunteers in a conservation initiative built-in into the Rs 1,200-crore Vishwamitri Flood Mitigation Challenge.

Whereas the bodily dredging was undertaken by the Vadodara Municipal Company and the Narmada Water Assets and Water Provide Division, the environmental part was supervised by a committee of specialists appointed by the State Human Rights Fee (SHRC), together with Dr Devkar.

Years of unlawful dumping and encroachments had drastically diminished the Vishwamitri’s circulation capability, resulting in recurrent floods in Vadodara. Following extreme flooding in August final yr, the state authorities, below SHRC instructions, revived the long-delayed mitigation plan, first proposed in 2008, with renewed give attention to biodiversity safety.

In keeping with the committee’s report, as cited by The Indian Categorical, the river’s riparian zone is a biodiversity hotspot. It helps a variety of species, together with bugs, molluscs, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals like porcupines and jackals. 

Most importantly, the river is dwelling to roughly 440 crocodiles throughout a 25-kilometre stretch, in line with a February census by the Gujarat Ecological Schooling and Analysis Basis and the forest division.

With the flood-control work overlapping the breeding season of key species, conservation needed to proceed hand-in-hand with engineering.

Rescuing life earlier than the machines roll in

Every morning earlier than excavators arrived, Dr Devkar’s group scanned the riverbanks for nests. Crocodiles and turtles lay eggs in dug-out soil, whereas red-wattled lapwings, recognized for his or her well-camouflaged floor nests, required knowledgeable monitoring. Finding these eggs took persistence, statement, and educated eyes.

Initially, eggs had been relocated to safer areas close by. Between 26 March and seven June, 410 eggs, together with 88 crocodile, 284 turtle, and 38 chook eggs, had been transferred to Vadodara’s Sayaji Baug Zoo for incubation.

This undertaking, described by The Indian Categorical as a primary of its form, concerned excessive care in egg dealing with. Reptile eggs, specifically, can’t be rotated or repositioned with out risking the embryo’s survival. Volunteers photographed the eggs earlier than transport to assist zoo workers replicate their precise orientation in incubation.

From hatchery to riverbank: A measured success

On the zoo, chook eggs had been incubated in brooding chambers, however reptile eggs required specifically designed nest containers crammed with soil to imitate pure circumstances. Sustaining humidity and temperature was essential. 

In reptiles, gender is set by incubation temperature — 29.5°C yields a near-equal male-to-female ratio. Any variation may drastically alter hatchling demographics.

The zoo’s veterinary group operated inside a strictly managed hatchery to keep away from contamination. Regardless of cautious procedures, 34 crocodile eggs and 126 turtle eggs had been discovered broken on arrival. Nonetheless, the outcomes had been promising.

By late July, 16 crocodile hatchlings, 26 turtles, and 20 red-wattled lapwing chicks efficiently emerged. All had been launched into the identical stretches of the river from which they had been rescued, finishing a full circle from safety to rewilding.

As The Indian Categorical highlighted, this initiative demonstrated that ecological sensitivity needn’t hinder growth. As a substitute, it proved that with considerate integration, science and infrastructure can work in concord.

Edited by Vidya Gowri 

Supply:

‘As a river flows once more, crocodiles and turtles get a second probability at life’: by Aditi Raja for The Indian Categorical, Printed on 25 September 2025.