Cattle owners living in and around Palamu Tiger Reserve are only concerned for their livestock and not any fig for wildlife of the PTR said officials. Their cattle overtake, over eat and over drink all resources of PTR they added.
There are 191 villages which are right in the buffer of the PTR while another 207 villages are situated in a radius of 5 Kms of this PTR. The pressure thus on PTR is of 398 villages. This pressure is for varied things like grass for grazing for farmers’ cattle and this interferes, destroys and disturbs the habitat for wild life here.
The other pressure is for dry wood for fuel. Here sources said families living in and around PTR which are equipped with gas connections under PM Ujjawala Yojna spare gas cylinder and burner and prefer the same old wood-fire for which PTR’s dry wood as fuel comes most handy.
Sources said the farmers’ cattle which as per a very old estimate counts 1.50 lakh in and around PTR not only eat palatable grasses meant for PTR’s wild life but also consumes thousands of litres of water equally meant for PTR’s herbivores and carnivores.
PTR has built artificial troughs, which are of high utility value in summer when PTR faces crisis of water where in these water troughs farmers’ buffaloes sit in and waste water.
The new field director of Palamu Tiger Reserve Dr Mohan Lal who assumed charge of this PTR on September 1 is a man of business and in just two weeks time of his remaining in office of directorate project tiger here tried to confront this malaise of cattle kingdom in PTR without pushing any panic button.
Lal who was a director for 7 years in Rashtriya Gokul Mission in Delhi said “ PTR is contemplating to raise a huge pasture / meadows for the cattle of the farmers so that these farmers then take down their cattle for grazing there leaving our prime grass lands un-intruded and un-invaded by their cattle.”
He said the farmers here have desi variety of cow, ox buffalo and thus there is a scope of improving the breed too as high breed bovines will have stall feeding and the income of the farmers too is set to push up.
Lal said, “I held a meeting with PTR’s rangers where I have asked them to locate and find out GM land for this pastures which PTR will raise at its cost for the use of farmers’ cattle.”
Sources said poor quality fodder too forces farmers to push in their cattle in the territory of PTR.
Lal said “ There is Indian Fodder Development Institute in Jhansi which too can be approached for improving the quality of fodder here.” Lal said the problem of cattle feeding upon our grass lands is a chronic one and needs to be handled with care and caution so as not to antagonize people living in and around PTR.
