Country's first elephant reserve in Jharkhand
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Hazaribagh: jharkhand has become the first state in the country to set up an elephant reserve or elephant safari project in the country. "soon after the jharkhand government came into being, a draft proposal for a project to preserve the elephants in the state was prepared and submitted to the union government, which was immediately accepted," said sahdeo jha, chief conservator of forests, jharkhand, while addressing a wild life preservation week function organised by the conservator of forests, hazaribagh circle, at carmel school...
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recently. he said that under the project the central government has sanctioned rs 6.25 crore for setting up the project and reconstruction of the habitat of elephants in ranchi, singhbhum, gumla, hazaribagh, chatra, latehar and daltonganj. "under the scheme, large-sale bamboo plantation will be done and big reservoirs for storing drinking water for elephants made. the union government will bear the entire cost of the project which will be looked after by the jharkhand governemnt." he said that the sanction amount will be spent in five years and if more funds are required the centre will meet the cost. jha said that now jharkhand has 12 sanctuaries and a national park, together covering an area of 5000 sq miles out of the 23,6000 miles forest area in the whole state. thus the forest area in jharkhand stands at 20 per cent of the total area of the state against the national average of 15 per cent, he said. "in these sanctuaries the habitat of elephants will be preserved. if the habitats are not disturbed, they won't go out of the forest and destroy crops," he said. in this connection he cited the elephant menace in the area. "when elephants do not get food in jungles they go to nearby villages. the project will prevent elephants from doing that." according to a recent census, jharkhand has about 550 elephants. later, talking to the newsmen, jha admitted that due to the paucity and diversion of funds by the then bihar government, the sanctuaries and national park of the jharkhand area were totally neglected but now things appear to be improving with the jharkhnad government taking steps to maintain the ecological balance of the area and attract tourists. he also said that plans are afoot to set up a tiger safari project in the kanhari hill area of the hazaribagh east forest division, close to hazaribagh town. it will also have leopards. "the project was mooted some 10 years ago and the centre even released rs. 1 crore for the purpose. but the project could not be started as the money was never released by the then bihar government, which diverted it to some other head," he said. earlier, chief guest manoj yadav, mla and former forest minister of bihar, called upon students to take extra interest in preservation of forests and wild life. he gave away prizes to the winners of the painting, slogan writing and quiz contests organised by the forest department. st. xavier's school students walked away with most of the prizes.