At Kawal tiger reserve, it is one step ahead and two steps backward when it comes to conservation efforts and management of the park. "It is going to the dogs," was how a former top official associated with the facility reacted on coming to know about the goings on there.
Unchecked forest fires are creating havoc with the environment almost all over the 893 sq km of core area and much of the 1,122 sq km of buffer spread over Nirmal, Mancherial, Kumram Bheem Asifabad and Adilabad districts.
The most affected ranges are Kadem-Pembi, Birsaipet and Udumpur where anyone can see the destruction on either side of the road.
The spread of the fires show that it was a deliberate act aimed at burning the beedi leaf plants. The incidence will facilitate easy generation of beedi leaves and its collection though it is a banned activity within the Reserve.
No salaries
The barricading of pathways which lead to villages located inside the core area in order to check timber and sand smuggling are waiting for personnel to be manned. The pair of watchers who used to man the barricades at Allampalli, Gandi Gopalpur, Kawal-Islamnagar, Mohammadabad-Mallial, 19th Kadem distributory and Mohammadabad plantation sites have long left the job as they were not getting salaries.
The collusion between forest officials and staff and local sand mafia is evident at ranges where civil work connected with tiger conservation is in progress.
In what is a quid pro quo arrangement, forest functionaries reportedly ‘allow’ tractor owners to cart away sand from local streams on the way to Allampalli and Domdari in Birsaipet and Pembi ranges in lieu of a free of cost load of construction material for the civil work.
The tractor owners who indulge in illegal activities all night are known to the department to have damaged camera traps and stolen the memory cards from a few of them.
The camera traps set in the areas to monitor tiger movements had caught the images of sand smugglers.
The future does not look bright either what with the State Board for Wildlife constituting a team to study the feasibility of lifting ban on movement of heavy vehicles through the Kawal core area. "If the ban is to be lifted, it will cause lot of disturbance to the wildlife and will end up as a disaster for it," observed a 'concerned' staff member on conservation duty.
"It is summer and wild animals are required to reach the few water holes within the Reserve. The animals need to cross road at Kalpakunta, Birsaipet tank, Chintaguda, Jannaram and Tallapet to name a few where the department has set up pumping of water with solar power," revealed another forest official, also on conditions of anonymity.
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