The Maharashtra forest department has launched a scheme to provide LPG connections and biogas to people living in forest areas.
The Maharashtra forest department has launched a scheme to provide LPG connections and biogas to people living in forest areas. This has been done to avoid destruction of forests and to bring down instances of people being attacked by wild animals while looking for firewood.
In addition to this, grants will be provided to replace cattle that feed on scrub with cattle that can be stall-fed, so that livestock does not fall prey to predators.
“This will help create a buffer of satisfied non-forest dependant villages,” noted principal secretary (forests) Pravinsinh Pardeshi, adding that this would help create “ideal green villages across sanctuaries.” Pardeshi said women went to the forests to cut firewood and were killed by wild animals who mistook them for prey. Villages which do not encroach on forests, stop illegal tree felling, forest fires and poaching will be eligible under the scheme.
“If all energy needs are met from non-forest based timber like gas and biogas … people will stop cutting down forests,” said Pardeshi. He added that the scheme has been introduced because people have no other alternate source of fuel.
The forest dwellers – largely tribals -- depend on forests for firewood. This reduces the regenerative capacity of the forests and causes health problems for women due to use of firewood as fuel.
The scheme will see subsidised LPG connections being given out while families with livestock will get grants for a biogas plant.
Cattle that feed on scrub will be replaced by high value and productive stall-fed cattle.With livestock being looked after in homesteads, it will not fall prey to predators, reducing the man- animal conflict and allowing the regeneration of forests.
The scheme has already covered around 5,000 families in 100 villages, a majority of which are located around wildlife sanctuaries like Melghat, Tadoba, Nagzira, Tipeshwar and Bor, which have a high wildlife density.
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