Dehradun, October 19, 2002: The Chief Minister
of Uttaranchal, Mr ND Tiwari, presented a cheque of
Rs 1 lakh to the widow of a deceased forest guard
here earlier this month. The cheque was the final
settlement of a supplementary accident insurance scheme
that covers 50,000 field forest personnel in the country.
The package has been designed by United India Insurance
Company (UICC) and is run in association with the
Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
Kishore Lal Bahuguna, a forest guard at Rajaji National
Park, was killed on duty when a speeding bus overturned
and crushed him at the Motichur checkpost of Motichur
range in Rajaji NP in October last year.
The cheque was presented during a function organised
by the Uttaranchal government to observe Wildlife
Week on October 9. A number of organisations were
felicitated on the occasion for their efforts to conserve
wildlife in the state. Wildlife Trust of India was
also felicitated at the function. The state minister
for forests, Mr Nav Prabhat, was also present on the
occasion.
Mr Ashok Kumar, Senior Advisor and Trustee, WTI,
said, "The state government's gesture was a recognition
of our commitment to the conservation of wildlife
and habitat in Uttaranchal." The Executive Director
of WTI, Mr Vivek Menon, went on to say, "Uttaranchal
is one of the three new states of the Indian Union.
All these three states (Jharkhand and Chattisgarh
being the other two) have large areas of forest cover
and can be called 'forest states'. With this in the
backdrop, any work already done or to be done by WTI
in Uttaranchal assumes immense significance."
Wildlife Trust of India has worked on a number of
projects and has also been associated with a number
of issues pertaining to wildlife and forests in Uttaranchal.
Among other things, WTI has been working with the
state forest department to acquire the Chilla-Motichur
corridor which is crucial for the movement of elephants.
A number of factors have been making it difficult
for conservationists to protect elephants here. These
include human settlements in and around the area,
factories and an army ammunition dump nearby, cattlegrazing
, firewood collection, and timber-felling. A study
of the ground realities has already been undertaken.
WTI's Rapid Action Project (RAP) has conducted a
detailed study to find out the major causes for accidents
along the 23 km of railway tracks between Haridwar
and Dehradun that run trough the Rajaji National Park
in Uttaranchal. In the last 14 years, as many as 18
elephants have been killed in train accidents here.
WTI has been part of a task force formed by the state
forest department and the railways to investigate
in detail both short and long-term measures to curtail
the problem.
A number of initiatives have been taken along the
tracks including clearing of vegetation along the
blind turnings and putting up of signboards warning
train drivers of elephant movement along the tracks.
This apart, WTI has been acting as the NGO interface
between the Uttaranchal forest department and the
nomadic Van Gujjars for their voluntary relocation
to other areas.
Wildlife Trust of India has been awarded a contract
to conduct a study into illegal wildlife trade and
poaching in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal
last year. The study also looked at the serious problems
of smuggling of wildlife articles from India to Nepal
and from there on to Tibet. The study has been completed
and the report submitted to the state government.
Moreover, a number of Van Rakshak Project (VRP) training
programmes for wildlife personnel have been organised
for the staff of Corbett National Park and Rajaji
National Park. After the success of a workshop on
legal affairs and wildlife in Corbett National Park,
WTI plans to organise two more such workshops - one
at Haridwar and another somewhere in the higher reaches
of the hills.
