Illegal sand mining poses threat to Katlabodi tigers

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 08 April 2014 | 22.33

NAGPUR: Katlabodi tigress and her three sub-adult cubs seem to be under severe threat from brick kilns on the edge of reserve forest areas in Kalmeshwar range, 35km from Nagpur.

The Katlabodi tigress was rescued by forest officials from a well in Bandhara, 40km from Nagpur, on February 7, 2011 and was released back in the wild in eight days after treatment. The tigress delivered three cubs in 2012 and these sub-adults cubs have become residents of Kalmeshwar range.

However, brick kilns near Khairi, Ladhai and Satnavri adjoining reserve forests in Bazargaon round of Kalmeshwar range are engaged in large-scale illegal extraction of sand (needed to make bricks) for the past few months from a perennial water source.

The water source coming from Mahadagadh hills falls in reserve forest and joins the Vena river. "Owing to peak summer, these water source is used by tigers. There is tiger movement in the area and I even saw fresh pugmarks. Extraction of sand is posing serious threat to tigers," said Chandrakant Deshmukh, a former malgujar of the area working for conservation of tigers. It is surprising how forest officials are unaware about the theft going on for months together, he added.

"I have joined very recently. I'm aware about tigers presence in the range. Action will be taken against illegal sand miners," said Manoj Mohite, RFO of Kalmeshwar.

The area from where sand is being extracted is an ideal tiger habitat with dense forest at hardly one km from these kilns. It was also found that a couple of forest chowkidars were themselves extracting pieces of wood from the same area.

Over 19 brick kilns are in operation adjoining forests. These include 5 in Kalmeshwar, 9 in Nagpur and 4 in Hingna tehsils. On April 5, 2013, the then RFO had written to deputy conservator of forests (DyCF), Nagpur, about these kilns.

No NOC has been taken from the forest department to operate these kilns. Respective tehsildars were also told about the problem but even after a year no action has been taken so far.

Deshmukh says tigers and other wild animals are at risk as labourers working in these kilns are from other states. They enter the forest for fuel wood and there is every possibility they must be indulge in poaching of animals. Villagers say tractors involved in extracting sand also move in the forest during night hours to escape action.

Based on the report submitted by Kalmeshwar RFO, the DyCF had written to district collector on April 20, 2013, urging to close down these kilns but collector took no action. However, if revenue department has not taken action, forest department too is going easy on violators, it seems.


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Illegal sand mining poses threat to Katlabodi tigers

Dengan url

http://uratrefleksi.blogspot.com/2014/04/illegal-sand-mining-poses-threat-to.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Illegal sand mining poses threat to Katlabodi tigers

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Illegal sand mining poses threat to Katlabodi tigers

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger