Maharashtra to get 10 conservation reserves

A committee was also set up to study the leopard deaths, leopard kills and proposes measures to reduce it in the state

The state board for wildlife (SBWL) on Friday cleared a proposal to declare 10 conservation reserves (CR) spreading over 1,000 sq km in Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who chaired the meeting, also approved the declaration of 269 sq km area at Kanhargaon in Gondpipri tehsil, Chandrapur as a wildlife sanctuary. A committee was also set up to study the leopard deaths, leopard kills and proposes measures to reduce it in the state.

CM Uddhav Thackeray, who also unveiled Maharashtra Forest Manual, 2020, reiterated that the state government will conserve forest and it will not just remain lip service (Representational image)

Thackeray, who also unveiled Maharashtra Forest Manual, 2020, reiterated that the state government will conserve forest and it will not just remain lip service.

“Forests are an important part of our lives. We cannot act only as per our convenience; we talk about global warming but hack trees on the other hand. This is not correct. The forest we have must be conserved and expanded. The wildlife in the forests follow the law of nature and they follow it. We, on the other hand, make laws and rules that are convenient to us, and even break them,” Thackeray said, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office (CMO).

Aaditya Thackeray, state environment and tourism minister, who was present during the meeting, called the decisions taken in the meeting “historic”. He said, “In no other time has the environment and wildlife got so much importance that it always deserved. We are committed to being a green government and will ensure that sustainable development continues.”

Among those approved in western Maharashtra were Chandgad CR (225.24 sq km), Ajra-Bhudargad (246.63 sq km), Gaganbawda (105.48 sq km), Panhalgad (72.9 sq km), Vishalgad (92.24 sq km), all in Kolhapur district.

At Sindhudurg, the 56.92 sq km Dodamarg-Amboli CR which connects tiger breeding areas of Karnataka’s Bhimgad Sanctuary and Goa’s Mhadei Sanctuary was approved, and Jor-Jambhali CR (65.11 sq km) and bird haven of Mayani CR (8.67 sq km) at Satara, were approved.

In Vidarbha, Munia (97.37 sq km) in Nagpur and Mahendri (67.48 sq km) in Amravati was approved as CR, but the board was yet to decide on Mogarkasa (37.7 sq km) in Nagpur.

Aaditya in a tweet said that it was decided that there will be a “subgroup of the board to work on the upgrade of conservation reserves to sanctuaries with adequate dialogue with local populations across various places in the state.”

The committee will study leopard-human conflicts and will look into rising leopard deaths and leopard kills. Between January and December, 172 leopards were killed, which is the highest in at least five years for a calendar year.

(With inputs from Badri Chatterjee)