Odisha’s forest officials and the nature lovers had an ear to ear smile on Saturday when a female adult gharial was sighted with 28 hatchlings in Mahanadi, almost after two decades. The mother gharial was spotted with 28 hatchlings at Satkosia gorge at Mahanadi River under Tikarpada Wildlife Sanctuary in Angul, which is the southernmost limit of the gharial’s natural habitat in India. The sight of the hatchlings has brought a fresh lease of hope among the Odisha Forest Department officials who had been desperately trying to increase the gharial population in the area for years. Finally, they say that there has been a successful breeding of the critically endangered gharials at Mahanadi in Satkosia gorge. A few are of the opinion that this was possible because of the fishing ban imposed in the core area. After the sighting, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik commended the Forest Department officials for their sustained efforts for breeding of gharial crocodiles in natural environment. The Chief Minister has emphasized on the concerted conservation efforts extended by the State officials in providing a safe habitat for the gharial population to proliferate in the area.