Mansinghdeo sanctuary's endless wait continues

Story/Place - Nagpur
Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN Oct 2, 2011, 12.08PM IST
NAGPUR: It took 17 years for the state government to notify the Mansinghdeo Wildlife Sanctuary. Now that it has been done, it might as well take another 17 for the wildlife wing of forest department to take possession of sanctuary from Forest Development Corporation (FDCM) and territorial wing. The sanctuary was notified nearly elevent months ago on November 2, 2010, but is still lying unprotected.
Mansinghdeo, spread over 183 sq km, will add real value to Pench tiger reserve with which it shares the boundary. Pench is the smallest reserve of India with an area of just 256 sq km. Yet, even efforts to begin legal process to take over the sanctuary are lacking. There is no firm assurance form senior forest officials about when that would happen.
At present, the sanctuary area is being looked after by the staff of FDCM and Nagpur forest division whose 41 compartments (9,914.93 hectares) and 23 compartments (7,370.95 hectares) respectively have been assigned to Mansinghdeo.
A K Saxena, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), East (Nagpur), said, "My stand is clear. I have no problem in taking over the sanctuary provided requisite staff is provided. It is not my baby at this moment." S K Sood, managing director of FDCM, said: "We are ready to hand over the area and have been writing to the wildlife wing since February. There is no justification to keep the area with us any more. The FDCM board has also approved it."
On controversy about the timber and bamboo felled after the sanctuary notification, Sood said there was no controversy as felling was done as per approved working plan. Delay in receiving the sanctuary notification led to the mess, he admitted. "We will approach Supreme Court's centrally empowered committee (CEC) to get permission to remove felled material," Sood told TOI.
Even C R Gajbhiye, chief conservator of forests (CCF), Nagpur territorial circle, said there was no problem from his side. Three posts of range forest officers (RFOs) would be allotted from Aurangabad Circle, 11 posts of foresters and 61 posts of forest guards have been created by reorganising surplus cadre. All the posts have been transferred but posting orders will have to be issued by the government.
When head of forest force (HoFF) A K Joshi was asked about the delay, he said posting of staff was definitely an issue but even without that security and protection had not been hampered. "We hope to improve the situation after ongoing recruitment of forest guards. Besides, 221 foresters will be promoted as RFOs. Once the process is completed, staff will not be a problem," he said.
Sources said if staff was one issue, dispute over the felled timber inside the sanctuary after notification is another. Wildlife wing officials said the area should be handed over by FDCM to territorial department first and then to the wildlife department. Experts said this is just bureaucratic time pass. In 1994-95, 15 compartments of FDCM, which were included in Chaprala sanctuary, were directly taken over by the wildlife wing.
Experts asked if there were no problems on anyone's side, why things were not moving. No meeting has been held till now to discuss issues facing Mansinghdeo. It was time officials started putting barriers, increase patrolling, data collection to prepare inventory and start preparing management plan of the sanctuary.


source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com

sourced by jimsjungleretreat.com