BENGALURU: While the Karnataka government is working on taking over deemed forest patches and converting them to revenue lands, in Vijayapura, the situation is different.The locals are demanding that a portion of the revenue land be merged with private lands and be declared a Blackbuck Community Reserve.
If all goes well, this will be second community reserve in Karnataka, after Kokrebellur in Mandya district. It will also be the second community blackbuck reserve in India after Rajasthan, where the Bishnoi community plays a crucial role in blackbuck conservation. Karnataka has two blackbuck sanctuaries — Ranebennur and Bankapur.
“Usually it is the forest department which works on getting an area declared as a conservation or community reserve, but here it is the locals who are coming forward asking for it,” said Vanitha R, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Vijayapura.
The forest department is now working on preparing a draft to be placed before the state government for clearance. The area proposed is 45 acres of revenue land in Balluli in Belagavi. The area also covers five villages spread across a 10-km radius.
The advantage of declaring a community reserve is that locals will be involved in conservation and they will be duly compensated for crop loss. So far, the department has received 50 crop loss compensation applications. The disadvantage before the department is the area.
“It is not a continuous patch. The population and area proposed to be declared is spread across five villages,” Vanitha said.
Declaration of a community reserve is listed under section 36 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The government can declare an area as a community reserve which has been volunteered by a community or individuals to declare an area, which is not comprised within a national park or a sanctuary or a conservation reserve, for protecting the flora, fauna and traditional or cultural conservation values and practices. The only difference to a conservation reserve, is that the area is chosen by the forest department and locals play no role in conservation efforts.
Locals and officials say that it is also an interesting speculation of how the Black Bucks came here. Some say that around six years back a devotee left three Black Bucks near Siddeshwara temple, which have now multiplied manifold. Some others say a herd wandered around and reached here. The place is a safe haven for them as there are no predators, baring a few leopards that have been sighted here.