Jammu, Nov 15: The Government of India has given nod to Rs 2 crore project of the state government to create Primary Reaction Teams (PRTs) to check the menace of man-animal conflict in Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said the proposal to create PRT was mooted by the state forest ministry in view of the growing number of causalities in the man-animal conflicts across the state.
“The union ministry of forest and environment has given a go ahead to the project”, an official of the state forest department told Greater Kashmir, on the conditions of anonymity.
The state forest department will constitute Primary Reaction Teams under which volunteers at village level be recruited and trained, he said adding these recruits would be paid an honorarium by the department on monthly basis.
Under the project, villages have been put in two different categories, identified by the Wild Life Department, where incidents of man-animal conflict have been reported frequently.
Those engaged will be given Rs 3,000 per month and necessary training by the department so that they would be able to deal with any such situation. Leopard and black bear attack is common in the most of the areas, particularly in valley and Pir Panjal ranges.
“The project has been approved by the central ministry at the first instance and now the state forest department has been asked to prepare list of volunteers to be engaged”, Minister of State for Forest, Shabir Ahmed Khan, told Greater Kashmir.
He said the exercise would soon be completed and the final list would be forwarded to the center ministry for financial assistance, which it has accepted to provide.
Wild Life Department has categorized villages into two risk groups, A and B. Villages encountering high frequency and repetition of incidences of human-animal conflict in the state have been put into category (A) villages and a policy to engage village community Rapid Response Workers, in a radius of at least two km of such villages, has been proposed. A total of 100 villages would be brought under this scheme.
Similarly villages encountering moderate frequency conflict have been put into category B villages and a policy to engage village community rapid response workers in a radius of at least one km of such villages is proposed on seasonal basis. A total of 50 villages are proposed to be brought under this scheme in the first instances.
Shabir said the department had procured latest equipment and trained its people to deal with the situation, but people themselves need to take initiative to control the menace. “We have brought necessary equipment to handle the conflict. The equipments include rescue vans, long range tranquilizing guns, long range tranquilizing pistols, automatic trap cages, search flush lights, nets, rescue helmets and special ladders”, he said.
Due to the encroachment of the forest land by the people in recent years Man-Wild animal conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir have assumed a serious magnitude forcing government to give special attention to deal with the menace.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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