61 deer at Uran naval station to be shifted to Tansa nature park

Endangered spotted deer were housed at a temporary shelter for 23 years

Around 40,000 children in Navi Mumbai will have their eyes examined in the next six months.

The initiative, Nanhe Nayan 2016, focuses on protecting the schoolchildren’s vision through free eye check-ups. Teams of One Vision Health and Research Foundation and eye doctors from Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute will conduct the eye check-ups starting from August 1.

About 60 schools from Nerul, Sanpada, Vashi, Kharghar, Kopar Khairane, Panvel and Belapur have partnered with One Vision Health and Research Foundation and Advanced Eye Hospital and Institute as the eye care partner.

Dr Vandana Jain, director of AEHI, said: “Most eye problems in children can be solved by diagnosing them in time. Some children have eye allergies or eye muscle imbalance which interferes with their vision and school performance.”

She said, “As a part of Nanhe Nayan initiative, we are planning to train teachers to identify schoolchildren with eye problems as well take lectures for students about eyecare in the next three months.”

This is the third year of the Nanhe Nayan drive. “Last year, we checked around 21,000 children. The results showed that almost 22% of school children have undiagnosed eye problems,” said Dr Jain.

The endangered spotted deer, that have been housed in a temporary deer park at Uran naval station for years, will soon be shifted to Nature Park at Tansa, Shahapur, in Thane district.

The 61 deer are expected to be shifted by mid-August.

The deer that had been confined in a limited space and faced a number of problems, even threat to life, will now be able to roam about freely in the sanctuary. The shift will also relieve the naval officers and forest department officials of the responsibility.

Twenty-three years ago, officers of Uran naval station had got three pairs of rare cheetal deer from the zoo in Mumbai to the area for recreation purpose.

Enough space was provided for the three pairs of deer. The officials had also appointed a caretaker to ensure that the deer were looked after.

Over the years, the deer count reached 61. The rise in the deer population has led to the space available being inadequate. There is also a serious issue of feeding such a large population.

The navy which is entrusted with the job of protecting the country does not have the allocation to increase personnel for taking care of the deer.

This has led to neglect of the deer which could prove costly as their lives are endangered. Sometime ago, two deer were reported to have crossed over from deer park to Kegao village area where they died.

Shocked by the death of the two animals, animal lovers and environmentalists blamed the naval station and forest department for the incident.

Accepting that the navy will not be able to take proper care of the deer, the then Lt commander KR Khillare wrote to the forest department, asking them to shift the deer to a safe location. The issue was also raised in the assembly by the local MLA. The forest department consequently started making efforts to shift the deer.

Forest officer Surendra Kale immediately wrote to his superiors, saying that there was a threat to the lives of the deer and that they need to be shifted to a safe place urgently.

Following the question on the issue in the assembly, the forest department had checked with Jijabai Udyan in Mumbai and Borivli National Park on the possibility of shifting them there.

DB Gaikwad, forest security officer, said: “The 61 deer will be shifted in the second week of August to Nature Park in Tansa.”

He added, “Senior official of Thane forest department MM Kulkarni has written to the Naval officers in Uran over the shifting.”

PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATION