Egg clutches like these discovered by the GSI in central Gujarat have been stolenSixty-five million years ago, they disappeared off the face of the earth. But not without a trace. Take a walk in and around a small village called Raiholi near Balasinor in central Gujarat. You never quite know what you could come across.After the first traces of bone fossil were discovered there in 1981 and egg clutches in 1982, in the past two years the place has become a hunting ground for collectors hoping to find clues to the mystery that was the dinosaur. In fact, in the past decade Raiholi has emerged as one of the half a dozen sites in the world which has yielded over 1,000 eggs and hundreds of bone fossils of the prehistoric sauropods (herbivorous creatures) and the carnivorous theoropods.Thanks to the failure of the authorities to protect the site, however, there has been an increasing number of relic hunters trying to sneak out these archaeological rarities from Raiholi. The state Government had posted home guards to preserve the site from being vandalised further but to no avail.An explosion in August was found to be an attempt to retrieve egg fossils from a stone formation at one spot. A week later, an egg clutch marked by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) barely a month earlier was missing. Says Raiji Rathod, a farmer and local painter who has helped GSI experts retrieve the fossils, "There is little doubt that the fossils are being smuggled out." Villagers, realising their value, have apparently begun to sell the eggs at Rs 100 a piece. According to GSI sources, the eggs fetch around $700 (Rs 29,400) in the European market. This explains why dealers, even researchers, have been exploiting the site. The precedent to this disturbing trend, feel experts, is an American geologist's visit in 1995. He carried out excavations at Raiholi and took a large number of bone and egg fossils. Having failed to retrieve the fossil of a dinosaur skull, he apparently offered up to Rs 1 lakh to anyone who could find one.Also, an awareness camp organised by him in 1996 backfired because instead of protecting remnants and working as tourist guides, some of the local youth trained by the geologist have allegedly been mediators in spurring on the plunder in a bid to make a quick buck. GSI palaeontologist D.M. Mohabey, one of those who first discovered dinosaur fossils in the Raiholi area, pleaded for the protection of the site in a recent study. "They are being vandalised by unscrupulous excavators in search of dinosaur eggs. The Government should immediately declare the area a national geological monument. What nature has preserved for 70 million years can't be allowed to be destroyed in a matter of a few days," he says. .preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}However, little effort has been made to protect these fossils. The steps taken so far have had no impact since dinosaur relics continue to disappear from various sites.As far back as 1988 gsi experts had submitted a proposal to the state and Central governments for the site to be cordoned off by a fence. The report also envisaged the establishment of a dinosaur fossil theme park on a nine acre plot. Fibre glass and rubber foam images of the various kinds of dinosaurs were to dot the park. A museum with dinosaur eggs and bone fossils on display and a cafeteria were also part of the plan. But despite the efforts of gsi personnel, the proposal has been gathering dust with the state Government. At present, the eggs and bones that the GSI has collected from Raiholi over the years lie in the GSI museum in Ahmedabad while some are preserved in Calcutta's India Museum.Things are not all bad, though. Jayant Parimal, an IAS officer who has taken over as the managing director of the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd, has given impetus to the proposal recognising Raiholi's tremendous tourist potential. Besides demanding a Rs 1 crore grant from the Union Tourism Ministry to set up the park, Parimal is also trying to move things at the state Government level. "Its potential has to be tapped as quickly as possible. It is at the top of our agenda," he says. Perhaps, with his efforts, Raiholi could soon boast a Jurassic Bagh.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 9, 1998--- ENDS ---
