Baranvapara sanctuary will again become the abode of tigers, tigers will be released in the sanctuary.
In a bid to increase the number of tigers in Chhattisgarh, tigers will be brought from Madhya Pradesh and will be released in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve.
Along with this, tigers will also be released in Baranvapara sanctuary due to favorable conditions for tigers.
These proposals were approved in the meeting of the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel at his residence office here today.
Along with this, many proposals were also approved for the protection and conservation of wild animals. Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar, Advisor to Chief Minister Pradeep Sharma, Parliamentary Secretary Shishupal Sori, MLAs Mrs. Sangeeta Sinha and Dr. Lakshmi Dhruv were present in the meeting.
Chief Minister Baghel instructed the officials to pace up the development works for the protection and conservation of wild animals of the region and promoting livelihood-oriented activities in villages within the 10 km radius of forests.
He also instructed to strengthen communication network in forest areas with a view to protect wild animals, to create pastures and water facilities for animals and carry out awareness campaign to stop elephant-human conflict. The proposals related to these were approved in the meeting.
A proposal was made by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) to quadruple the number of tigers in Chhattisgarh, the implementation of which was approved in the meeting. Under this, tigers will be brought from Madhya Pradesh and released in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve.
Officials said that in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, water sources, pastures have been developed for wildlife, so that the number of vegetarian wildlife can also increase.
In the meeting of the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board, in-principle consent was also given to the proposal to release tigers to rehabilitate the tigers in Baranvapara Sanctuary of Balodabazar district. Officials said that till the year 2010, Tigers were found in Baranvapara Sanctuary.
Under the Tiger Re-Introduction and Tiger Recovery Plan, a Habitat Suitability Report will be prepared from a well-known Wildlife Institute, after the approval received from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi, the work of tiger restoration will be started in this sanctuary.
Officials informed in the meeting that vegetarian wild animals brought from different breeding centers and other places have been released in the natural habitat of the protected areas of the state.
49 chital in Kanger Ghati National Park, 39 blackbucks in Baranvapara Sanctuary, 113 chital in Gurughasidas National Park, 20 chital in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, 14 chital in Tamor Pingla Sanctuary have been released.
It was also informed in the meeting that in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh, the incidents of human-elephant conflicts have reduced significantly due to arrangement of pasture, water etc. for elephants.
About 11 thousand 314 hectares of pastures have been developed. Edible grass species have been planted in about 80 thousand hectares. 12 stop dams, 40 ponds, 65 aardan dams, 98 ponds have been deepened for drinking water of wildlife, similarly structures have been built in 52 drains for ground water augmentation and ground water conservation.
In the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board meeting, about 64 forest areas of Keshkal and Kanker Forest Division in Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Indravati-Udanti-Sitanadi-Sunabeda Tiger reserve were identified by Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for construction of proposed Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor under Bharat Mala Project.
Permission was accorded for the construction of the proposed Economic Corridor in about 3.5 km of the highway passing through 7 forest chambers of the corridor. This proposal will be sent to the National Board for Wildlife. In this way, permission was given to construct a new bridge on the Chintavagu river on the Bhopalpatnam to Jagdalpur National Highway. This proposal will also be sent to the National Wildlife Board for further permission. The construction of this new bridge and approach road comes under 1.177 hectare area of the buffer zone of Indravati Tiger Reserve.
It was also informed in the meeting that permissions have been granted for the following; electrification work in 0.35 hectare forest land from village Newari Para to village Khod in Surajpur and 5.148 km from village Tamki to Kotwaripara in Surajpur.
Diversion of 0.88 hectare for electrification, extension of 11 KV power line in Lahpipara Gram Panchayat Shobha, extension of 11 KV power line from Shuklabhatha to Jholarao and Kerapara to Bhathapani in Rajapadav , NOC for electrification work in village Lilanj,permission was also granted for the DGPS survey work of Farsegarh-Pillar-Sendra-cherapaalli marg.
Communication network will be strengthened in forest areas
The meeting also approved proposals for laying of optical fiber cables and installation of mobile towers to facilitate better communication in forest areas. This will strengthen the forest animal protection system as well.
On the other hand, PDS system, paddy purchase, old age pension, banking and online studies will be availed easily in the villages of forest areas.
In the meeting, permission was also given to do artificial insemination in wild buffaloes.
According to this proposal, semen extraction will be done under the supervision of experts from Wildlife Trust of India and LaCONES, CCMB Hyderabad and veterinarians posted in Forest Department. This will be used for artificial insemination of female wild buffaloes.
Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Additional Chief Secretary Subrat Sahu, Principal Secretary Forest Manoj Kumar Pingua, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sanjay Shukla, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) P.V. Narsingh Rao, Members of the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board were present.