Nagpur: In the forest areas around Nagpur, in the jungles of Tadoba, Melghat etc. Man- Animal conflicts and competition for land have become tragically common.
In the last few years there have been instances of tigers being poisoned; injured and thrown in wells etc. But the most prevalent cause of mishaps have been electric fences put up by some farmers around their farms which lie either within forest areas or close to it.
Farmers have had to resort to this to prevent nuisance caused by wild boars, deer and monkeys but often ‘protected’ and endangered species such as tigers also get electrocuted.
Taking cognizance of this Forest Department has decided to install an alarm system to get alerted to an ‘electrocution’ at once.
There will be co operation between forest dept and MSEDCL about this since there is tripping of power lines whenever there is an instance of electrocution which can now lead to joint action by forestmen and linemen. Culprits can be nabbed wherever such instances happen.
A decision regarding this joint action ( on an experimental stage now) was taken at a meeting convened by Dr. Debabrta Swain, Inspector General of Forest, the Regional office of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) at Van Sabhagruha on the Seminary hills.
NTCA has taken a serious note of increasing threat to wild life by way of electrocution, poisoning and poaching of tigers, leopards and other herbivores. The meeting was held to formulate a joint approach to tackle this menace. Divisional forest officers, Police Department and MSEDCL officials participated in the meet.
The proposed ‘alarm system’ was dicussed at the meeting. It is said to have been developed by an IFS officer from Balaghat who is an Engineer trained in IIT.
