ADILABAD: Increasing podu land cultivation and lack of sufficient staff are preventing forest officials from taking the measures required to reduce instances of man-animal conflict across different forests in the erstwhile Adilabad district.
The recent death of two tigers in the Daregaon forest area caught residents by surprise. Before their respective deaths, they had cumulatively killed 25 cattle. In the forest division limits, around 50 cattle have so far been killed. Such cases create fear in the minds of locals, who fear that they could be killed any time.
Excellent breeding ground
Officials said for the tigers in Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, the Kagaznagar forest area is an excellent breeding ground. They reach this region by crossing the Pranahita river, which is a perennial tributary of the Godavari river. Officials said there are a few tigers in the Kagaznagar forest area now. Recently, the forest authorities released a few deer brought from Hyderabad for them to feed on so that the man-animal conflict could be avoided.
The wild animals do not have to travel far for water and prey as they have a sufficient number of animals to feed on, mainly spotted deer. However, the tigers are unable to move freely in the Asifabad forest area due to various factors, including the fast disappearing forest cover and the increase in podu cultivation by the tribals.
According to officials, instances of man-animal conflict are occurring on account of the increase in podu land cultivation in the erstwhile Adilabad district after the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government issued pattas to the tribal farmers who were raising crops for decades before 2005.
For the regularisation of forest lands for podu cultivation, the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government had received 70,053 applications of which 37,324 were approved by the district-level committees for an area of 1.36 lakh acres.
Later, after the formation of Telangana state, the previous BRS government had received 83,000 applications for an area of 3.1 lakh acres. Most of the applications received were from the Kumurambheem Asifabad district.
Officials on long leaves
An important factor that has hamstrung the officials in preventing man-animal conflict is staff shortage.
Most of the staff went on long leave to prepare for competitive examinations and only beat and section officers were left at the ground level covering two to three districts. Apart from this, front-line watchers working in the forest area taken on an outsourcing basis have not been getting wages for the last few months.
An officer on condition of anonymity said that the state-level officials must take initiatives like providing sufficient staff and taking action against the ground-level staff if they were found to be negligent in their work.
Battling crisis
Most staffers went on long leave to prepare for competitive exams, and only beat and section officers were left at the ground level covering 2 to 3 districts
Frontline watchers working in the forest area taken on an outsourcing basis have not been getting wages for the last few months