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