Monitoring of man tiger conflict in the five reserves of the country may soon become a reality through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones, subject to approval of the Ministry of Defence.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has recently signed a MoU with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to start monitoring by drones in five tiger reserves. These include Panna (MP) Kaziranga (Assam), Sundarbans (West- Bengal), Corbett Reserve (Uttarakhand) and Sathyamangalam forest (Tamil Nadu).
According to Dr K Ramesh, wildlife scientist from WII, in charge of drone project, drones have been acquired which would be used for combating wildlife poaching and man animal conflict. A budget of Rs3.5 crore has been earmarked for the project. However clearances are awaited from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Home Ministry. However, the approval is expected during the next few months and operations are expected to begin in the six months that follow.
Permission has been sought to fly only within the boundary of the core area of the forest reserves. The surveillance would be outside of the human habitat area. Before deployment, a team will map out the risk zones for poaching and conflict, informed Dr. Ramesh. A drone will need a team of six, comprising of three biologists and engineers each.
Elaborating further, Dr Ramesh said that a drone can be put on autopilot mode and sent as far as 40-50 km deep into the forest where it can record images and videos and transmit them on a real-time basis. Its movement can also be controlled through a GPS-based system. Travelling at a speed of 40 km per hour, the drones can be used for around 40-50 minutes. The batteries are easily recharged, he said.
However, the forest department has to be trained to make the best use of the technology. Further, the drones that will have to be customised to suit the geographic and the specific requirements of the tiger reserves, said the scientists working on the project. A successful trial run of drone had earlier been successfully completed in Panna Tiger Reserve.