DANDELI (UTTARA KANNADA): The Forest Departments of Karnataka, Maharastra and Goa will now share information, patrol together and manage the corridors which are contiguous with each other’s state.
For the first time, Karnataka organised a meeting of officials from the two neighbouring states in which officials from Kolhapur circle of Maharastra and forest officials from both South and North Goa participated. The issues discussed include management practices and conservation of the protected areas (PA).
In the day-long meeting, the officials discussed about not just tiger area conservation, but also conservation of other species. “We learnt a lot about crocodile conservation from Goa. The Goans learnt from us the turtle conservation methods and the Maharastra sought information pertaining to man-elephant conflict,” Vasanth Reddy, Conservator of Forests, Canara Circle, told TNIE.
“There are about 22 elephants in the Kolhapur region. They were keen to know about the rain barricades, elephant prevention trench and solar fencing. The officials will visit Bandipur Tiger Reserve to know more about management practices,” informed Reddy.
The officials also showed keen interest in crocodile conflict management to prevent crocodile attacks in Dandeli town and the measures taken up recently.
Ramanujam, CCF Kolhapur, and DFOs Uttam Sawant, Nanda Kishore and others from Maharastra, attended the meeting. Several DFOs from North and South Goa were part of the visiting team. The inter-state coordination meeting focussed on protection strategies, wildlife management, corridor management and forest fire collaboration. “This is the beginning of the new-age conservation where we will be meeting every year from now onwards. We will work out a plan of action, conduct joint patrolling and manage check-posts which adjoin the state boundaries,” said Reddy.
“We will also conduct joint patrolling in a few areas and share intelligence and information about poachers or other kinds of offenders,” Reddy said.