Rishikesh:
‘Operation Monsoon’, which is aimed at conserving forests and wildlife, will be launched from June 25 in the Corbett and the Rajaji tiger reserves of Uttarakhand and two other forest circles.
Uttarakhand’s forest areas bordering Nepal and Uttar Pradesh will also be covered under the operation in which 1,500 regularised labourers and daily wagers will participate, forest officials said on Wednesday.
Monsoon patrolling will keep a vigil on forests and wildlife, and also in inaccessible areas with the help of new technologies, besides according top priority to saving the life of forest guards from wild animals, Director of the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) Rahul said.
Since two forest personnel were killed after being attacked by tigers during patrolling in two separate incidents last year in CTR, monsoon patrolling will be carried out for the first time in all-terrain vehicles and on 16 captive elephants, he said.
One thousand forest personnel will conduct patrolling using different modes including drones, boats, elephants and ATVs (all terrain vehicles) from June 25 to September 30 till the end of monsoon in 12 ranges, 140 forest beats of Corbett Tiger Reserve spread over an area of 1288 square km, Rahul said.
Patrolling will be done by 500 forest personnel using similar modes in 10 ranges, 110 forest beats of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve spread over an area of 822 square km from June 25, Director of the Reserve Amit Verma said.
Patrolling will be done in motor boats in nearly half a dozen water bodies in Terai west forest circle too, Conservator of the circle Parag Madhukar Dhakate said.
Operation monsoon will also be carried out in the Shivalik Forest Circle which serves as a link between the state’s two tiger reserves, its Conservator Prasanna Kumar Patro said.
