Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The residents of Chitara village, situated around four to five kilometers from Kuno National Park of Sheopur, have taken a resolve to protect the jungle and entry into the jungle with an axe is strictly prohibited. The villagers even impose a fine of Rs 11,000 on the offenders. In the last two years, the villagers have fined around 24 offenders and collected a penalty of Rs 2.5 lakh.
Nawab Singh Gurjar of the village said that since the number of forest guards was not sufficient to protect the jungle and its wildlife, the villagers decided to share the responsibility. A meeting was held in the village in which the resolution was taken that villagers themselves will protect the jungle. Laying emphasis on strong networking, the villagers even included children to ensure that no one enters the jungle with an axe. “In two years, we caught 24 people for trying to damage the jungle and collected a fine of around Rs 2.5 lakh. The informers are given a reward of Rs 1100,” said Gurjar.
During his recent visit to Kuno National Park, Union minister for environment and forest, Bhupendra Yadav had met the villagers of Chitara and had praised their efforts to save the jungle.
Grazing land divided into different zones
Informing about the initiatives of the villagers, district forest officer of Kuno National Park, Prakash Verma told Free Press that villagers have divided the grazing land into four or five zones, each zone to be used once in a year and leaving another zone cattle free. This initiative will provide time for development of the grassland and conserve the seed of the grass. Otherwise, when cattle eat the grass, not only grass land is damaged but the seed of grass also gets destroyed. The decision of using grassland on a yearly turn basis will certainly help in development of grasslands for cattle in a better manner.
A villager said that the entire village is dominated by the Gurjar community which is dependent on cattle for their livelihood. Hence if the grasslands are safe then the cattle business will flourish. If grassland diminishes then it will have a cascading effect on their animal husbandry business. Forest department officials also said that villagers have taken the pledge to protect forest from the wildfire which also destroys the grass land of their cattle.
