Telangana forest officials gained some insight into tiger and wildlife conservation from high-level officials of Madhya Pradesh at a state-level seminar organised at Aranya Bhavan on Saturday.
Member-secretary of the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board R. S. Murthy, and State’s Rural Employment Director Jasbir Singh Chowhan explained the measures taken for conservation of tiger and other wildlife at the Kanha National Park and Panna Tiger Reserve.
They stressed the need to control deforestation and poaching for preservation of biodiversity in the forests. Conservation efforts would be successful only by taking locals into confidence, they said.
The measures taken by the officials to involve local people in the conservation process included payment of compensation in case of death of livestock in tiger attack, and, if relocation of locals was needed, obtaining their consent and making arrangements for their relocation.
They shared their experiences of shifting 37 villages from Kanha National Park and 24 others from Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary.
The officials made a PowerPoint presentation and showed video clips to explain the use of modern technology such as radio collars and camera traps. They also elaborated on the measures to be taken to avoid man-animal conflict.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Telangana P. K. Jha, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart P. K.Sarangi, Additional PCCFs, and officials from Amrabad and Kawal tiger reserves participated in the meeting.
Later, the officials met the Minister for Forests and Environment Jogu Ramanna and discussed the functioning of the Telangana State Biodiversity Board.
The team lauded the formation of 2,560 village-level biodiversity committees, according to a press release.
