Download - My experience in Pench Tiger Reserve
-
8/10/2019 My experience in Pench Tiger Reserve
1/2
Theg
Made
a
DiFFereneo
Mr.
R.
G.
Soni
lndianForestServiceofficer,retiredasAddl.PccF,MadhyaPradesh
Pench
Tiger
Reserve
was
found
to
be
the
best
tiger
reserve
by
an
independent
evaluation
of
the
prestigious
wildlife
lnstitute
of
lndia
in
2008'
ln
its
early
years,
howeveL
visitors
to
Pench
numbered
around
less
than
1500
annually
which
increased
to
64,000,
with
more
than
5,000
foreigners
in
the year 2008-2009'
The
revenue
from
just
Rs.67
,4OO/-
in
2001
galloped to
Rs.
1.12
crores
in
2008-09'
ffi5i
rl:i:jm#r#;i::,:r,i:.ffi
This
transformation"'-iid
conversion
from
zero
to
hero,
howevEr,
didn't
happen
magically,
overnight'
Beginning
with
Mr.
Ram
Gopal
soni's
multi-pronged
efforts
as
the
chief
wildlife
warden
&
Field
Directorfrom
2001
June
to
2004
March,
it
took
months
of
toil
for
his
fresh,
innovative,
common-sense
and
indigenous
approach
to
blossom
to
fruition.
with
an
earlier
stint
in
Rookhad
in
19g4,
it
was
a
proud
moment
for
this
1982
batch
IFS
officer,
when
the
then
Forest
Minister;
shri
Harbans
singh,
serected
soni
to
promote
pench.
Tiil
then,
no
one
had
even
heard
of the
existence
of
such
a
place;
after
all,
weren't
Kanha
and
Bandhavgarh
the
only
exciting
spots
then
in
Madhya
pradesh?
ln
fact,
people
just
passed by
en
routetothese
reserves,
nevergiving
Pench so
much
as
a
glance'
pench
in
its
infancy
was
not
known
to
many
nor
publicized
as
a
destination
for
wildlife
tourism
as
there
were
no
private lodges.
lt
was
a
vicious
circle'
Due
to
its
low
volume
of
tourists
t'o
l":^1'T:*::lx:t l:i
ltJ
Pl
lvqLE
rvuE,uJr
favoured
by
the
state
Govt.
and
the
required
funds
for
wirdrife
management
were
not
made
available,
and
since
it
hadn't
enough
funds
it
lacked
the
infrastructure
to
attract
tourists.
ConflictwithvillagersWasrampant.Peoplewerenothappy
with
the
National
Park
because
not
only
did
they
lose
their
employment
in
the
forest
area
but
were
also
no
longer
allowed
to collect
minor
forest
produce
after the
declaration
of
the
area
as
a
National
Park'
Tourism
under
control
promotes
wildlife
conservation
and
ensures
livelihood
for
the
local
populations.
But
tourism
was
at a
very
low
key
in
this
tiger
reserve.
T.his
aggravated
the
conflict
between
man
and
animal'
Hence,
the
big
question
was
how
to
promote
tourism
in
this
tiger
reserve
which
was
small
in
size
and
competed
with
the
famous
Kanha
Tiger
Reserve
nearby.
why
wourd
one
visit
pench
when
one
courd
easiry
go
to
Kanha
and
even
get
better
tiger
sighting
there?
soni
took
up
the
challenge
and
went
to
Kanha
to study
their
methods
of
promotion.
He
realized
that
the
firs
thing
to
do
was
to
create
a
USp
for
the
park
which
in
this
case
was
Nobel
Laureate,
Rudyard
Kipling's,
"The
Jungre
Book,,
(written
in
1g95 in
the
USA),
and
to
emphasise
that this,
and
not
Kanha,
was
the
actual land
o
Mowgli.
,,The
Jungle
Book"
is well
read
in
western
countries
and
is
very
popular among
children
as
a
stor
book
of
wildlife.
By
a
stroke
of
good
luck,
the
TV animation
serial,
suddenly
popularized
Kipling's
book
an
the
character,
Mowgli.
Around
then,
while
wildlifer-journalist,
Prerna
singh
Bindra,
wrote
an
article
on
Penc
in
lndia
Today,
in
ZOO2,TV
Channel
Aaj
Tak'
spoke
about
th
Park
and
popularized
it.
After
careful
understanding
of
the
problems,
soni
introduce
a
better
water
management
system
which
is
one
of
the
mos
essential
elements
in
the
conservation
of
any
habitat,
huma
or
wildlife.
Earlier,
when
water
dried
out
around
Decembe
hand-pumpswereusedandtankersfilledupconcretesaucer
on
the
road-sides.
Most
of
the
water
dried
up
by
Decembe
and
the
residualwater
was
too
hotto
quench the
thirst'
Bi
-
8/10/2019 My experience in Pench Tiger Reserve
2/2
Soni,
with
his expertise
in
water
management, stopped
the
use
of the hand-pumps,
tankers
and saucers and
introduced an
innovative
technique
often used
in
villages.
i.e.
the
sinking
of hundreds
of
jhirias
at
appropriate
well-distributed
places.
These are
small
shallow
wells 4-6 feet
deep
surrounded
on three sides by
a stone wall
a bout 3 feet
in height,
much liked by
the anima
ls
as the
water
remained
cool
throughout
the
year.
Soni also
created
25 talavs
(ponds)
at
every 5
km
so
that the animals
would
check-dams
near
the talavs
where the
tigers mostly littered.
The herbivores came
there
to drink and
the
sambars loved
to
wallow. Sonifurther
constructed
Nala bandhan so
that
water
got
impounded at
different
places,
to
be used by
wildlife
for
longer periods.
Soni constructed
2 dykes
(small
dams... the
best example of
water management
in
PTR),
with black
cotton soil
in
gunny-
bags
piled
up
from the
bottom to
the top of the
Nala. Here, a
lot of
area
is submerged
in monsoon and
then the water
retreats
slowly
into the river
leaving
a
large blank
area as
open
ground.
But, the
Nala thus closed retained
water in the
catchment
of
the
Nala and
it did not
drain
out
into the river after
the submergence. Becausrir of
the
dykes
the
water
reached
the tree-line which
meant that the animals
no longer
needed to
go
as
far
as
the
river; the
water
came
to them. With the
humus from the
hill-sides
getting
into
the
water,
vegetation
grew
in
the wateL attracting,
especially,
the vegetarian water-birds.
Soni also
did staggered
contour trenching
on small hillocks
for water
to
percolate downwards.
This
ensured
impounding of
most
of
the rain
water so that the water
levels in
those
areas of
the
park
rose.
Grazing was
another
problem
which aggravated
the
man-animal
conflict
and animosity in the
villagers for
the
Forest
Department
(FD).
Soni
got
erected a 40
km.
game-proof
wpll of
stones,
about
6
feet
high; in
some
places
this has
been
raised by another
2
feet.
Due
to
this wall
the
village
cattle
no longer entered
the
Park
to
graze
and ruin the habitat and
the menace of crop-raiding of
the village crops by animals
from the
forest
also
stopped.
Talavs
were
created
on
the village
side
of these walls for
their
livestock and
pastures
came up
along
the
watersides. lnside
the forest, the habitat
improved
greatly
due
to the absence of
domestic cattle
so
that while
in
the
Chhindwara side
earlier
there
were no
animals, Gaurs
and Chital now began
freq uenting the forest
there.
It
took
months of efforts
with the
villagers convincing,
cajoling,
and
persuading
them
to agree
to his methods in all areas. ln short,
Soni built
up
not
just
a
wall but
bridged
the
seemingly
unbridgeable
gap
between the
villagers
and
the FD. With
generdlly
no
conflict,
things
looked up.
Absenteeism among
the workers due to
Malaria
also
reduced
as Soni
administered
Kalmegh, the
extract
of which
plant
is
a
preventive
for
Malaria.
The
villagers were
glad
to
be
rid
of
the
scourge
of
Malaria
and the
FD and
its workers
benefitted too.
Soni
realised that
tourism
helps wildlife
conservation because
it
provides
large-scale employment
opportunities to the
surrounding villagers,
and in
a
democratic set-up
this
is
important
to draw the attention
of
the
Govt.
and
policy-makers.
He
went
to
private
resorts and checked
their
visitors' books fdr comments
whichcouldhelptobringinimprovement.
Hegotresthouses constructedintheKarmajhariareafortourists
where
just
one Forest
Rest
House existed.
Private lodges
also
came
up
as tourism
was being
encouraged.
Soni
then
promoted
Pench as a
new
destination
in Delhi among 40
big
companies
of tour-operators.
The BBC-
made
film
on
PTR in
2OO7-8,
"Spy
in
the Jungle"
has
popularized
Pench.even
more.
With the
influx of
tourism,
man and animal
conflict
reduced to a minimum.
Having
got
employment,
the
people
from
the
surrounding
villageswho
were
hostile to the
Parkturned
into saviours of
the
Park.
Soni's
work
is exemplary
in transforming this
Park into the
best
destination
for wildlife
tourism
so
that
now
Pench is
internationally
recognised.
flis
work could be replicated
elsewhert
\U9slute
Mr.
Soni
Note:We shall
continueto
highlight contributions
of
many
others
in
developing
PTR.
.
He
creatdd
smallearthen