Podu land turns tiger habitat
Farmers may not be able to cultivate their podu lands and get yields even after getting their pattas as social forestry and plantations developed on them by the forest department are gradually becoming an extended habitat for tigers in many places in old Adilabad district.
Forest officials have started planting saplings in podu and the encroached forest lands where tiger movements were noticed recently.
New forest areas are being created as habitat for tigers by way of Haritha Haram in Kagaznagar forest division (KFD), which is a buffered zone of Kawal Tiger Reserve.
It has been noticed
SURPRISINGLY, officials have technically included KFD and their core area.
THE MOVE was in the backdrop of criticism from various sections that there was no tiger movement in KTR. This development is visible in Bejjur, Penchiklapet, Dahegam, Kagaznagar and Sirpur (T) mandals in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.
that the existing forest area is not sufficient for free movements of tigers, whose numbers have increased due to migration from Maharashtra and resident tigers giving birth to a new one in Kagaznagar division.
The man-animal conflict is the result of the high density of tigers in Kagaznagar forest division and the animals not entering the real core area of Kawal Tiger Reserve (KTR).
Surprisingly, KTR officials have technically included KFD and their core area. The move was in the backdrop of criticism from various sections that there was no tiger movement in KTR. This development is visible in Bejjur, Penchiklapet, Dahegam, Kagaznagar and Sirpur (T) mandals in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.
Forest officials had planted one lakh saplings in 100 hectares of forest lands and developed plantation in 2019 after taking the land from ‘encroachers’ in Dargapalli forest in Penchikalpet in 2018.
The forest officials say that they found pug marks of a tiger in the newly-developed plantation in Dargapalli forest on June 17 of this year.
According to sources, the same is the case with Tipeshwar Tiger Reserve bordering Maharashtra where it was found that some tigers were staying in plantations developed on the other side of NH-44. Incidents of Human-animal conflict and deaths of humans increased lately in Pandharkawada and Bhori areas since many tigers are coming close to agriculture fields due to their high density.
Forest officials and tiger conservation experts say that this situation has arisen due to depletion of tiger habitat area and indiscriminate degradation of forests and felling of trees by the locals.