BARIPADA: The Odisha government has approved the proposed Rs 125 crore Ama Similipal Yojana, a major livelihood initiative that seeks to create sustainable employment opportunities for villagers living around the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
Funds for the ambitious project have already been placed with the tiger reserve authorities.
Regional chief conservator of forests (RCCF)-cum-field director of STR Prakash Chand Gogineni told The New Indian Express on Monday that the government cleared the proposal a few days ago and sanctioned the funds for its implementation.
The project will be launched before October after its formal inauguration. Officials are currently finalising the implementation strategy in accordance with the detailed project report (DPR). The DPR was submitted to the state government nearly seven months ago.
The scheme will cover around 200 villages located on the foothills of the STR, where the fringe population takes up illegal hunting and poaching in absence of gainful employment.
Gogineni said the scheme is based on the concept of ‘Jiban Jibika’ (livelihood generation) and seeks to provide sustainable alternative sources of income to forest-dependent communities.
“A stable livelihood will reduce dependence of villagers living on the edge of the reserve on forest resources and discourage them from engaging in poaching, which not only threatens wildlife but also exposes them to criminal prosecution and imprisonment,” he said.
Under the scheme, financial and technical assistance will be provided primarily through self-help groups (SHGs) for a range of income-generating activities. These include sal leaf plate manufacturing, tailoring, honey processing, dairy and milk processing, poultry farming, goat and sheep rearing, agriculture and cultivation of short-duration non-paddy crops.
Implementation of the scheme will be jointly monitored by the tiger reserve authorities and eco development committees (EDCs) to ensure community participation, transparency and effective execution. As many as 25 EDCs have already been constituted for the purpose.
Meanwhile, the STR authorities are set to strengthen surveillance inside the reserve by installing 500 additional artificial intelligence-enabled cameras to bolster anti-poaching measures.
Gogineni said around 200 AI-enabled cameras have already been operational in the reserve over the past few years. The new cameras, procured at a cost of Rs 2.25 crore will expand real-time surveillance to nearly 50 per cent of the tiger reserve.
Installation work is expected to begin shortly once weather conditions become favourable, he added.
