Sahyadri tiger reserve sees arms inventory mapping

To curb poaching in the Sahyadri tiger project, Maharashtra Forest Department is mapping out an inventory of arms licences issued in the districts in the vicinity of the reserve. The department will also collaborate with the police to crackdown on unlicensed weapons used in wildlife crimes like hunting for bush meat.

“There are around 10,000 arms licences in the districts of Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur… We are launching an inventory mapping of these licences. We have sought information from the local Superintendents of Police,” V Clement Ben, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and field director of the STR, told DNA.

He said forest personnel, who have wide-ranging powers under the prevailing wildlife laws, will then visit these arms license holders at routine intervals to inquire about the use of the weapons and to seek an inventory of the ammunition. This, Ben noted, will curb the use of these licensed weapons for wildlife-related offences.

The forest department is also collaborating with the police in the districts of Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Ratnagiri to crackdown on unlicensed and country-made weapons which may be used for such crimes.

Last year, the tiger reserve authorities arrested around 50 people for crimes including poaching and illegal entry into the core area of the tiger reserve. Ben said this crackdown has helped send a stern message to poachers and hunters.

Ben added that people from the Konkan used traditional hunting routes to enter the reserve from the crest of the Sahyadris. The forest department has stationed staff in these areas for better protection, and has also set up four eco-development committees under the Dr Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Jan Van Vikas Yojana to involve locals in conservation of forest, and also reduce their dependence on forests.

“We are creating trekking routes on these traditional hunting routes,” said Ben, adding that this human presence will dissuade poachers. The resultant employment due to tourist inflows will also make locals stakeholders in the conservation.

Prajyot Palve, Range Forest Officer (RFO), Chandoli National Park, said they had written to the police and revenue officials seeking details of licensed weapons. “A record will be kept and guards will visit gun licence holders every month to get details of the ammunition used. We can even seize unlicensed guns in buffer areas and lodge police complaints,” he added, noting that many licenses had been given out for purposes like protecting crops from animals before the tiger reserve was notified.

On January 15, Palve and his team arrested nine people who had hunted a wild boar with two single-bore guns and also hunted dogs at Chandoli.

Last year, the authorities had arrested nine people from Sangameshwar in Ratnagiri for poaching two mouse deer. Two country-made rifles and weapons were seized from these poachers who were caught moving around in the Chandoli jungles by camera traps .

According to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, within three months of the declaration of an area as a sanctuary, every person residing in or within ten kilometres of such sanctuary and holding a licence granted under the Arms Act, 1959, shall apply to the Chief Wildlife Warden or authorised officers, for registration. Moreover, no new licences under the Arms Act shall be granted within a radius of ten kilometres without the prior concurrence of the Chief Wildlife Warden.

The Sahyadri tiger project Western Maharashtra’s only tiger reserve and is spread over the Koyna wildlife sanctuary and the Chandoli national park covering a 1,165.56 sq km area including a 600.12 sq km core and 565.45 sq km buffer zone.

However, the reserve suffers from inadequate tiger numbers. Maharashtra has six tiger reserves and around 190 big cats.