A Central Forest team toured the State between October 9 and 13, to conduct ‘Management Effectiveness Evaluation’ in sanctuaries and national parks, and made suggestions to the Telangana Forest department for their improvement.
The team from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change led by former PCCF, Karnataka, B.K.Singh, visited the Manjeera Wildlife Sanctuary at Sangareddy, Mahaveer Harina Vanasthali National Park at Hyderabad and the Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary in Mahabubabad district, before reaching the capital city and interacting with senior forest officials including PCCF R.Sobha.
Suggestions by the team include creation of more nesting grounds for birds in Manjeera, and better coordination with the local communities who can be supportive to the Protected Area Managers. The existing open areas in Mahaveer Harina Vanasthali may be developed as grasslands for antelopes such as black buck and four horned antelope. The team also recommended eco-bridges and underpasses to facilitate movement of wild animals in the entire notified national park area.
With regard to Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary, the MEE team appreciated the efforts of forest staff in evicting encroachers from 500 hectares of forest land and developing it as grassland, a statement from the Forest department said.
The team recommended measures to strengthen protection by setting up base camps and mobile parties. The officials also suggested development of a database on the distribution and status of flora and fauna species in all the three protected areas evaluated by them.
