Nalsarovar (Ahmadabad, Gujarat) also gets allocation for information network
Now on, the watchful eyes of foresters will be trained on
the winged visitors from overseas that flock to Nalsarovar (Ahmadabad, Gujarat)
every year. The state forest department has decided to set up watchtowers near
the bank of three villages where poachers has been rampant. Officials have also
decided to allocate special funds to set up an information network for
Nalsarovar, a Ramsar site.
Official in Nalsarovar said that at meetings between senior officials
on Monday, it was decided to have watchtowers in three sensitive villages –
Darji, Ranagadh and Vekariya (Gujarat). These have sizeable population and notorious
for the poaching of birds. In all, about 9000 people in these villages hunt and
eat wild animals.
The meeting was held after two people from Ranagadh Village
(Gujarat) were caught with 60 coots that had been trapper and whose legs and
wings were broken to keep them from escaping.
These watchtowers will be equipped with closed circuit
cameras and in order to prevent damage, one hidden camera will also be
installed to catch poachers who will manage to find the visible ones.
Sources in the department said that against the sanctioned
strength of 12, there are just six staffers – including the deputy conservator
of forests and assistant conservator of forests. With just half the sanctioned
strength, officials have to keep watch over 1.5 lakh winged visitors and
thousands of tourists to the wetland spread over 120.82 sq km.
“There are only three guards to secure the highly sensitive
site, which has communities known for poaching living nearby”, said a source. It
was decided at the meeting that staff strength would be increased to ensure
illegal activities are monitored efficiently.
Courtesy:- Times Of India.
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