As The Indian Express reported on October 18, Bharukheda, Amona and Nagartash, three villages in Wan Sanctuary of Melghat reserve were shifted out of the reserve — in what was the quickest and most hassle-free rehabilitation in Project Tiger's history — in June last year. The whole process of convincing and shifting the villagers out of the reserve was completed in six months. With the villagers being more than happy with the deal given, more villages inside the reserve have been hankering for it since then.
The win-win story for the Forest Department and villagers has acquired the dimension that wildlife activists love to endorse — that it is necessary to get rid of human residence to conserve tigers in core areas.
The first pictures of a tigress with two cubs captured by a trap camera fixed in Bharukheda village have warmed the cockles of Forest officials' hearts. “I have never felt so happy about any other work I have been part of. It's great to see how the tigress is using the vast village space that has since got converted into a grassland. And the fact that she is breeding is all the more exciting. It's rare to see tigress with cubs in Melghat," says Principal Secretary (Forest) Paravin Pardeshi .
Pardeshi, along with Melghat Field Director A K Mishra and Deputy Conservator of Forest Srinivas Reddy, was instrumental in the villages' rehabilitation when he was the Divisional Commissioner of Amravati.
“Seeing a breeding tigress in Melghat is rare, unlike in Tadoba-Andhari reserve where it's very common. The Bharukheda experience assumes greater significance against this backdrop," Pardeshi says. Read the full report here.
Source: Vivek Deshpande, Indian Express, Nagpur.
