Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is actively considering the proposal of the Forest and Environment department to declare three forest ranges as wildlife sanctuaries.
This was revealed at the state-level Wildlife Week celebration at the state capital here on Friday.
Talking to the media on the occasion, Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray said that his department has proposed Barbara forest in Khurda district, northern reserve forest of Athamallik in Angul district and Gandhamardan hill forest in Bargarh district as wildlife sanctuaries.
He said the department is in the final stage of demarcating the boundaries for the three proposed wildlife sanctuaries.
“The wild animals should not be treated as circus pets. They should be kept inside the forest as it is their natural habitat where they move freely. Let them stay in the forest and let the people go to the forest to see them without disturbing the wildlife,” Routray said.
The minister also informed that the department has initiated the process to declare Mahendragiri as a biosphere reserve.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Wildlife Warden, Sandeep Tripathy said after Sundargarh, Debrigarh and Muniguda, the presence of the tiger has been found in the Karlapat forest range in Kalahandi district as the forest officials have found the tiger pug marks in several areas inside the forest. “However, it is not ascertained whether the pug marks belong to the Royal Bengal tigers or the leopards,” he pointed out.
Stating that the tiger census is underway in the state, Tripathy said to identify the big cats about 1000 CCTV cameras have been put up in the forests.
He also informed that the Forest department has identified more areas in Satkosia Sanctuary in Angul district. “The total forest area of the sanctuary has been increased from 796 sq km to about 1100 sq km after the relocation of about 100 villages outside the sanctuary. It has been decided that 26 more villages in the sanctuary would be relocated very soon for which the state government will provide a compensation to the tune of Rs 260 crore to the villagers,” Tripathy added.
