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Nagpur gets transit treatment centre for animals

"It will cater to animals from across Vidarbha, but particularly to the requirements of the Nagpur circle," the official said, adding that there were plans for a similar centre at nearby Chandrapur.

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In what will help speed up rescue and treatment of injured animals and birds, the state forest department has started a transit treatment centre for them in Nagpur.

Located at Seminary Hills, the centre was inaugurated by finance and forests minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Tuesday. "The centre will help in rescue, treatment and release of animals," a senior state forest department official told dna, adding that this was among the first of its kind in India.

"It will cater to animals from across Vidarbha, but particularly to the requirements of the Nagpur circle," the official said, adding that there were plans for a similar centre at nearby Chandrapur.

The Vidarbha region accounts for among the highest forest cover in Maharashtra. The centre will have facilities like a rescue van, operation theatre and x-ray facilities. The van, which will have the necessary requipment like ropes, traps, ladders and nets to catch injured animals and birds, will help provide them with first aid and transport them to the transit treatment centre for further care.

The official said that the around Rs65 lakh centre will complement the rescue centre at Gorewada in Nagpur, which is also the site of the proposed international standards zoo. Those animals and birds which are cured after treatment will be released back into the wild while those which are handicapped will be housed in the Gorewada rescue centre, which is one of the largest such facilities in India, spread over a 25 hectare area.

The India State of Forest Report, 2015, (ISFR) published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has recorded that the very dense forests (VDF) in Maharashtra stood at 8,712 sqkm, a fall of 8 sqkm compared to the 2013 figures, while the moderately dense forests (MDF) in the state stood at 20,747 sqkm, down by 23 sqkm. However, the open forests (OF) in Maharashtra have increased by 27 sqkm as compared to the previous figures and stand at 21,169 sqkm, while forest cover in the state has fallen by 4 sq km. Scrub forests, which are not counted in the forest cover, measure 4,157 sqkm.

However, in India, there has been an increase of 3,775 sqkm in the forest cover between 2013 and 2015. India's recorded forest areas (RFAs) cover 23.26% of the 32,87,263 sqkm geographical area. The report said that Maharashtra has RFAs of 20.01% of the total geographical area (61,579 sqkm of 3,07,713 sqkm). The National Forest Policy, 1988 has set a target of 33%.
 

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