The efforts taken by the Forest officials to curb the killing of innocent animals on the foothills of Dalma forests near Jamshedpur during tribal tradition named the Bishu Shikar, has finally started paying off as not a single animal was killed during the celebration, taken part by hundreds of villagers from the nearby area including the tribal villages of West Bengal and Odisha.
“We have been doing our home work for over three months to spread awareness among the tribal people, which is now seen on the ground. As per our records, no animal was killed till afternoon on the occasion of ‘Bishu Shiikar’, a tradition where hundreds of tribals from different parts of Jharkhand and adjoining States gather at the foothills of Dalma for ‘Sendra’ on this particular day,” said Chief Conservator (Forests) AK Pandey.
The forest officials give credit to their preparedness to deal with the situation and prevent the mass bloodshed by the local tribals during the ritual of mass hunting.
“Since it is a ritual for the tribal people, we cannot not be harsh on them. We could only urge them not to kill the animals. Hence a public relation programme was launched among these people requesting them not to kill animals during the ritual,” he added. More or less, we had succeeded in convincing them, said Pandey.
As many as 200 -250 forest officials and staff were asked prevent the tribal people from entering the sanctuary with bows, arrows or any other weapons. Similarly, the traps prepared by them used to catch the animals for killing were allowed and those secretly placed, were removed by the forest guards, he said.
Moreover, checking for weapons used to kill animals were being done at 16 different nakas (entry points) set up by us for the purpose, added Pandey. Similarly, he said, 18 patrolling parties, formed by the forest department were on the guard to prevent any sort of bloodshed.
The police had also been kept on alert for any kind of untoward situation in the area. “Political motives of some of the locals are also one of the factor for the continuance of such an evil in the society, who for their own sake of benefits do not want this to come to an end,” said Saranda DFO KK Tiwari.