Gulf News: BUFFER VILLAGES OF TIGER RESERVES CLEAN UP THEIR SURROUNDINGS
Satpuda Foundation
Buffer villages of tiger reserves clean up their surroundings
Villagers motivated to do voluntary work
Published: 17:34 September 7, 2015
By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
Mumbai: As monsoon recedes and the threat of malaria looms large due to stagnant water in the remote buffer villages of tiger reserves in Central India, local wildlife conservationists have embarked on a massive cleanliness drive involving local tribal people.
The drive initiated by Satpuda Foundation, an NGO working for wildlife conservation and community development in this region, has motivated the villagers to do voluntary work and also obtained support from the staff of the forest department as well as members of the Village Eco-Development Committee. The major thrust of this ‘cleanliness movement’ is to ensure cleanliness in more than 120 buffer villages of the tiger reserves of Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari in Chandrapur, Nawegaon Nagzira in Gondia-Bhandara, Pench, Nagpur, and Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha, Satpuda in Hoshangabad and Pench in Seoni.
One of the first steps taken was to ensure that water did not stagnate anywhere in the village. Normally, when water is drawn out from hand pumps and wells, it usually spills in the surrounding areas and stagnates — thus becoming a breeding ground for mosquitos, says Kishore Rithe, founder of the Satpuda Foundation (SF). “That is why we have encouraged all the villages to dig a one-foot deep soak pit next to the pump or well to collect this spilt water that would percolate down into the ground and recharge the water table,” Rithe told Gulf News on phone from Nagpur.
He also informed that the “Acting on the message of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the cleanliness drive, SF teams are carrying out this initiative across all the buffer villages, mobilising local communities to take action at the village level.”
Anti-plastic programmes were also organised throughout August and conservation officers have been speaking to the villagers on the harmful impact of plastic/polythene on the environment, encouraging them to remove such litter from their villages. Village garbage also includes huge quantities of polythene which, Rithe says, is creating havoc in the buffer zones of tiger reserves. Polythene not only spreads in the forest areas but is consumed by wild animals. “Such garbage dumps in the buffer villages also attract dogs and thereby attract leopards and sometimes sloth bears. This often creates a human-wildlife conflict in these villages.”
On August 27, around 21 managers of local resorts in the forests of Pench Tiger Reserve, M.P., and members of the Gram Panchayat or village committee participated in a meeting called “Garbage Management in buffer area of Pench.” Led by SF officers, Anoop Awasthi and Niranjan Hinge, along with local officials, it was decided that each resort would contribute Rs80 (Dh4.40) per room per month towards garbage management by the village committee. Moreover, the resorts agreed to segregate their waste into three categories — biodegradable, non-degradable and waste comprising glass and metal.
Whilst the degradable waste will be converted into compost, the other waste will be sent to urban centres for recycling in bulk. Awasthi said, “There is no formal garbage management at present and waste is strewn out onto to roads and in empty plots. This had led to proliferation of stray dogs whilst wildlife is also attracted to food waste.”
In the villages, collected plastic/polythene litter are being buried on the outskirts of the village.
Former Member, Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife,
Former Member, Maharashtra state Board for Wildlife,
Member, Maharashtra state Bio-diversity Board.
Administrative office:201,Plot 17,”Sapphire”Apptt, 201,Puranik Layout,
Bharat Nagar, Amravati Road, Nagpur. Tel.: 0712-2040288 (Tele-Fax)