Sasan Gir National Park Wildlife Sanctuary Junagadh News Gujarat India

Lion census is set to begin shortly at the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, and the State Forest Department may also take up GIS mapping this time.

But in an irony of sorts, a recent training conducted by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has shown that only 16 per cent of the total staff manning the sanctuary actually knows the exact application of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. About 490 Gir staff had attended the first-ever WTI training in Gujarat.

Rakesh Singh, WTI Coordinator, told The Sunday Express: “The training was conducted from December 9 to 25 and had two segments. In some cases, it was disappointing to know that the forest officials were not even aware of the application of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Under this Act, every forest officer is empowered to arrest a person, detain vehicles and even seize property if he comes across any wildlife crime. However, not many forest guards and range forest officers were aware about this.”

He added: “There were multiple choice questions in the post training session. Only 50 per cent of the total participants were able to identify the pug/hoof marks of antelopes, lions, sloth bear, chital, hyena, sambhar and black bucks.”

WTI officials said most of the forest officers had already completed 30 years of service as beat guards and range officers.

“The Forest Department has been giving training to the frontline staff, but most of them failed to answer basic queries such as how crime investigation should be done,” Singh said. He also did not rule out that a lack of understanding of wildlife could lead under-reporting of cases.

According to the WTI, nearly 25 per cent of the total staff undergoing training failed to identify wildlife crime; out of 490 staffers, 324 did not know what a protected area is, and only 16 per cent of the total staff knew what their powers are.

“Forest authorities told us that our training received a negative feedback, but the forest officials said otherwise,” said WTI officials.

A Round Forest officer from Girnar Forest Range said: “I have been in this service for 30 years. The WTI training has been more effective, so much so that after the training we were able to identify 13 wildlife crimes.”

Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) M M Sharma refused to comment on the matter.

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Girnar Hill Mountain Wildlife Forest Junagadh News Gujarat India

MP says Kuno Palpu sanctuary can house 60 Asiatic lions.

Waiting anxiously to bring the 'king of the jungle – Asiatic Lions' to Kuno Palpur sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh Government has claimed that the park spread over 900 sq kms can house as many as 60 Asiatic lions.

With Gujarat Government refusing to part with its "pride" from Girnar forests which is the only habitat of lions in the country, the Center has proposed "soft release" of the zoo-bred lions in Kuno Palpur sanctuary as an alternate home to the animal.

The Centre has already identified pure-gene Asiatic lions in the Delhi and Hyderabad zoos for relocating them in Kuno Palpur with an aim to strengthen the population of the endangered species in the country.

"Almost 60 lions can be accommodated in the sanctuary having 900 sq km of buffer area.

Girnar Mountain Parvat Temples Ropeway Project Junagadh News Gujarat India

Girnar Ropeway Project to temple put on hold to "save" vultures.

The Center has put on hold the proposed parvat ropeway project to Gujarat's religious shrine atop Mount Girnar citing threat to the nesting of endangered vultures in the region.

The Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife chaired by union environment minister Jairam Ramesh at a recent meeting has asked a team of conservationists to visit the site and study the impact of the proposed project before deciding its fate.

"Girnar wildlife sanctuary is the only known colony of long-billed vultures in Gujarat. If the ropeway passes through the trees housing vulture nests, it will be a disaster," Asad Rehmani, a prominent conservationist from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and committee member, said.

He said 121 vultures (long-billed and white-beaked species vultures) were counted in the region in 2005 which have declined to 79, according to the 2007 census.

He said the environment impact assessment report submitted by a private firm Usha Breco Ltd seeking to construct the ropeway was not factually correct with particular reference to faunal diversity of the area.

The committee also observed the project seeking diversion of around seven hectares of Girnar forest land was yet to get environmental clearance.

However, the Gujarat Wildlife Department, strongly arguing in favor of the project, said it would only ease the pressure on the wildlife created by visiting devotees who currently pass through the jungle to reach the holy shrine atop Girnar Parvat, Junagadh City.

Girnar Parvat Temples Hill Mountain Lili Parikrama Junagadh City News Gujarat India

Forest dept to keep strict vigil on Girnar Parvat Lili Parikrama.

No plastics allowed. Gas cylinders to be used for cooking - no wood to be used. The forest department has laid down these guidelines to minimize environmental damage that the Girnar Lili Parikrama may cause.

More than 90,000 yatris have started the parikrama which is officially scheduled to begin on Thursday, said Junagadh collector Ashwani Kumar. Lili Parikrama, as it's known in Saurashtra Kathiyavad, is an annual circular religious tour of Girnar by devotees.

Due to the efforts of the administration, police and forest department, yatris are now more conscious about the environment and understand why it's vital to save trees and protect the jungle. In the past, there have been incidents of forest fires and complaints of pollution.

Moreover, the Nalpani Ghodi forest department has set up counting points. Because of heavy rains this year, many roads were washed away and mud slides were reported.

Forest department has cleared and repaired roads on a war footing. Chlorinated water and milk are being provided on the way. Hawkers are not permitted. Police force is also on alert to provide security.

Girnar Temples Parvat Mountain Lili Parikrama Junagadh News Gujarat India

Enthusiasts begin Girnar Parvat Lili Parikrama ahead of schedule.

Two days before the 36-km historic Girnar Parikrama - the amazing annual religious walk when devotees tread mountainous terrain to worship at temples located in the dense forest area – will officially commence, over 50,000 enthusiasts have already started their walk uphill.

Packed trains and buses are arriving at Bhavnath, the starting point of the walk every hour. Over one lakh people have already reached Bhavnath, sources said.

"The official walk will be flagged off at 12 pm on October 29. However, eager participants have already started the walk on their own," a source at Bhavnath said. Some wish to avoid the rush of Lakhs of devotees and enjoy the three nights and four days of nature peacefully at their own pace," the source added.

Meanwhile, anticipating this, the district administration too had made arrangements by Tuesday morning. "Medical camps, water points, complete police security have all been put in place from Tuesday itself so that even early birds will get all the facilities," a district official said.

On its part, the forest department, which becomes the official host of the event, has also made all arrangements. District forest officer at Girnar Anita Karne said, "All arrangements are in place along the route from Bhavnath to Zina Bava ni Madhi to Malvela, Bordevi and back to Bhavnath.

It's the forest department's responsibility to see that the roads are made and security is maintained. We have done our best to ensure that the event goes off smoothly."

Appealing to people to conserve natural surroundings, Karne said, "We have repeatedly appealed to people to maintain cleanliness along the route. Special bins have been put up and people are requested to dispose of all solid waste in them. It's our collective responsibility to preserve the environment."

Uses of microphones by cultural groups who come to the parikrama have also been banned. "We have banned all loudspeakers since the last two years and have done our best to see that there's no noise pollution," Karne added.

Girnar Hill Mountain Parvat Temple Junagadh(Saurastra) Gujarat

Cracks appear in Sudarshan pond parapet.

Reports of cracks appearing in the parapets of Sudarshan pond sent officials of district administration and Junagadh Municipal Corporation into a tizzy on Wednesday. Inspection on the site did reveal cracks, however, no calamity was reported.

According to district administration officials, incessant rains in the valley of mount Girnar from Wednesday morning inundated Sudarshan pond, located at Bhavnath.

"Residents around the pond were asked to evacuate and the road from Girnar Darwaja to Bhavnath was blocked for some time. However, a major calamity was averted as the rains stopped," said JMC commissioner R M Sharma.

Meanwhile, a retired officer of roads and buildings department of JMC attributed the damage to the wall to random digging by the JMC. "In the past, JMC officials had done substantial amount of digging around the parapets of pond for creating parking lot or erecting stage for cultural programmes during fate. This has done great damage to the pond, causing near calamity like situation," said J N Vasavada.