Maharashtra: Four villages make way for wildlife to be rehabilitated

In a boost for tiger conservation, four villages in the Umred Pauni Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary (UPKWLS) will now be rehabilitated. This will enable better wildlife management in the sanctuary, which is populated by breeding tigers.

In addition, more villages in the vicinity of this protected area, are seeking their inclusion into the sanctuary in return for compensation.

"Four villages (Khapri, Jogikheda Rithi, Parsodi and Chichgaon Rithi) were already notified as part of the wildlife sanctuary. Now, we will compensate the villagers and rehabilitate them after settling their rights. This will free up around 348 hectares of land," said Ravikiran Govekar, field director and chief conservator of forests of the Pench tiger project.

Though the area covered by these four villages was counted as part of the 189 sq km wildlife sanctuary, which is known as the habitat of Maharashtra's iconic tiger 'Jai,' who went missing from there in 2016, this could not be managed by the forest department as it was under uses like agriculture. Once the villages are resettled, the land can be used for purposes like the development of meadows.

A meeting in this regard was held by Parinay Fuke, minister of state for forests, in Nagpur last week.

Senior forest department officials said, in addition, around eight villages had sought inclusion into the UPKWLS. "This will add around 700 to 800 hectare land to the protected area. The idea is at a preliminary stage," the official explained.

Incidentally, the proposal to convert and upgrade the UPKWLS into a tiger project had been shot down for reasons like its small area. The wildlife sanctuary can link tiger projects like Bor, Navegaon-Nagzira and Tadoba for better tiger movement and genetic dispersal.

A committee consisting of state and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) representatives had suggested that the UPKWLS, which has around five tigers, including four females and a male, be the core and an additional area be designated as the buffer.

The conversion of UPKWLS into a tiger project would have introduced better landscape management, habitat development for the growing tiger population and enhanced connectivity to tiger habitats within and outside the state.

Tiger projects were managed more holistically than other protected areas due to a unified control over the core and buffer and bordering parts under territorial forest divisions. These tiger projects can also get deployment of the special tiger protection force (STPF). Man-animal conflicts would have been reduced due to the faster grant of compensation for crop and animal losses.

"This can be a good breeding ground and source population for Navegaon-Nagzira. It will give a boost to the tiger project proposal. Tigers are safer in tiger reserves than wildlife sanctuaries," said Jaydeep Das, honorary wildlife warden, Nagpur, adding that an upgrade to a tiger project meant enhanced protection and more funds from the Centre.

Jai is missing from his habitat since 2016 and is suspected to have been poached. In 2017, his son Srinivas was electrocuted in the Nagbhid range and tigers like Charger and Rani were poisoned.

Maharashtra has six tiger reserves.

The 2014 tiger census said India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. Maharashtra has around 190 such big cats, more than the figure of 169 in 2010. The 2018 tiger census, results for which are yet to be declared formally, has estimated around 240 adult tigers in the state.

The state has six tiger reserves, namely Tadoba Andhari, Pench, Bor, Sahyadri, Melghat and Navegaon Nagzira and a healthy number of tigers outside protected areas (PA) as well. However, the lack of surveillance and protection outside PAs puts tigers at risk.