With the rise in incidents of wild elephants and bears attacking humans in village settlements in the forests of Chhattisgarh, the State government has decided to fit tracking collars to the wild animals so that their movement could be tracked via Global Positioning System (GPS) to prevent further loss of human lives and property damage.
This was decided during a meeting of Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh at his official residence here.
Singh, during the meeting also provided in-principal approval to the scheme during the 8th meeting of the Board and directed officials to speed up work in this direction. He told the Forest Department officials to complete the required preparations within six months and begin implementing the scheme.
Moreover, the Chief Minister directed to appoint ‘Special Safety Squad’ in identified forest areas for preventing timber theft.
He also asked officials to develop a centralized system based on help line for quick information flow.
“The help line numbers can be used by people living outside forest region and this scheme could be implemented in bordering areas of Chhattisgarh,” the Chief Minister said.
He acknowledged the increasing forest area and number of wild animals in Chhattisgarh.
Singh also advocated for mapping of forest area for knowing the increasing forest cover and also to identify the spots where the number of trees have dropped.
Over installing tracking collars to wild animals, he said that at least two wild elephants in different herds should be fitted with tracking collars so that their movement could be tracked.
While fitting tracking collars, special care would be taken and services of specialized agencies will be taken in this regard, the Chief Minister said.