Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday ordered the officials concerned to make necessary arrangements for conducting census of wild bears in Chhattisgarh. He said this while addressing a meeting of Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Conservation Board at Mantralaya. He also issued directives for declaring Gidwa, Parsada and Mandhar as ‘Bird Conservation Zones’.
The conservation officials revealed that there are about 3,000 bears in the State which they claim to be the largest number in the country. The CM said,”To safeguard the bio-diversity of nature, protection of wildlife is necessary.Singh further said that fruit-bearing and flower-bearing trees should be grown in bird conservation areas to attract bird species to wildlife sanctuaries.
He directed the officials concerned to grow such trees in Naya Raipur and surrounding areas so that the birds build their nests in the vicinity. He appreciated the increase in number of tigers in Chhattisgarh. The clone of Chhattisgarh wild cow has been prepared by the Karnal-based National Dairy Research Institute to preserve the rare species.
The CM said that clones of wild buffaloes should also be prepared to save them from extinction. There was a detailed discussion on the wild elephants in the meeting. He said that ‘Radio Collars’ should be attached to wild elephants so that the rural people come to know about the approaching tuskers. Singh expressed concern over the loss of life and property due to attacks by wild elephants and ordered the officials to pay compensation to the affected families as soon as possible.
The Wildlife Board members and MlAs including Mahesh Gaagada, Chintamani Maharaj, Tokhan Sahu, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Director General of Police AN Upadhyaya, Additional Chief Secretary NK Aswal, Forest Department Principal Secretary RP Mandal, Chief Conservator of Forests Ramprakash, Additional Director General of Police RK Vij, Wildlife expert VS Silekar and SK Patnaik, Bio-Diversity expert SC Jena and Sushobhan Rai, Bird expert AMK Bharos, Save Nature Samiti Bastar president Sharchandra Verma, Board Member Secretary VN Dwivedi and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.