More effective efforts should be made by the Forest Department to reduce human wildlife conflict. Making a well-planned policy for its prevention, work should be done seriously on it. Permissible assistance should be made available to the families of the dead and the injured in human-wildlife conflict as soon as possible. The places adjoining the forests which have been deprived of biofencing, those places should be covered with biofencing as soon as possible. Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami gave these instructions while presiding over the 20th meeting of the Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board at the Secretariat on Friday.
The Chief Minister said that to prevent human wildlife conflict, patrolling of forest personnel should be increased in the identified hot spot areas and forest personnel should be given adequate equipment like camera trap, anider, tranquilizer gun etc. Also, wild animals should be monitored through modern equipment like drones. Special attention should be paid to those divisions where more cases of human-wildlife conflict are coming.
The Chief Minister directed to prepare DPR soon on the master plan of the proposed zoo and safari in Haldwani. He directed to complete the development and upgradation of Chaurasi Kutiya under Rajaji Tiger Reserve as per international standards very soon. The Chief Minister also directed to make wildlife based documentaries and films for wide publicity of various national parks to promote wildlife based tourism in the state. He also asked to organize bird watching camps at various places. He said that the proposed development plans in forest areas should be completed soon by staying within the ambit of rules, so that the general public can get convenience.
It was informed in the meeting that approval has been received from the National Board for Wildlife for the Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Project. Approval has been received from the National Board for Wildlife for Kimsar-Bhogpur Motor Road in Yamkeshwar block of District-Pauri Garhwal. Which will be constructed soon. Tiger Conservation Foundation has been formed for the Rajaji Tiger Reserve which is pending for 9 years. A 10-year proposal for forest landscape restoration is being prepared incorporating all the points of wildlife management in the state. For which an amount of Rs 32 crore has been approved by the Government of India in the financial year 2024-25. An amount of Rs 10 crore 50 lakh has been allocated to the forest divisions for the purchase of modern equipment in the financial year 2023-24 to prevent human-wildlife conflict in the state.
It was told in the meeting that after the year 2009, the rates of forest rest houses in the state have been revised. The master plan of Haldwani Zoo and Safari, Haldwani was approved by the Central Zoo Authority, Government of India. The work of monkey sterilization is being done in mission mode in the state, in which 39,398 monkeys have been sterilized from July 2023 to 31 March 2024. To prevent human-wildlife conflict, ‘Living with Leopard’ program is being run under 05 forest divisions (Garhwal, Tehri, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Narendranagar). 65 quick response teams have been formed under 31 forest divisions for quick prevention of incidents of human-wildlife conflict.
Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal, MLA Banshidhar Bhagat, Diwan Singh Bisht, Suresh Singh Chauhan, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, Chief Forest Conservator Dr. Dhananjay Mohan, Chief Forest Conservator, Wildlife Dr. Sameer Sinha, Special Secretary Dr. Parag Madhukar Dhakate, ADG A.P. Anshuman and board members were present in the meeting.
