Activity Update April 2014: Navegaon-Nagzira

Team:

Mukund Dhurve       - Conservation Officer

Jivraj Salam              -   Field assistant

Salimkumar Dhurve - Field assistant

Highlights

·      Joined Forest Department staff in night patrols 2 times

·      Assisted Forest Department in fighting local fires in forest on 2 occasions

·      Putting water pot for Birds near the area of Pongezara Temple

·      3 community assistance voluntary work projects – programmes to clean area next to hand pump at Pindkepar, Jindatola, Bodalkasa

·      Organized 12 medical camps at which 614 patients got free treatment

·      Livelihood programmes - identified 11 youths and sent them for training in desktop publishing (DTP), data entry and use of Tally package   

Conservation

During April, our team assisted in fighting fires in the forest on two occasions. Volunteers from a Mangezari-based youth club, sponsored and mentored by Satpuda Foundation, joined Mukund, Jivraj and Salim and staff of the Forest Department in fighting fires in Compartment 109 on April 2 and in Compartment 110 on April 3.

Fire in Compartment 109-110, which our team helped to fight

Our team organized 3 community assistance programmes in April.

On April 16, we organized a programme to clear the area around a hand pump at Pindkepar in which 14 people, including unemployed youths and school students, participated. A similar programme was organized on April 17 at Jindatola to clean the area around a hand pump.  16 people, including 2 adult villagers, joined Mukund and Salimkumar in this programme. Another programme was organized on April 19 at Govindtola to clean the area around a hand pump.  8 youths from the village joined Jivraj and Mukund in this programme.

In all the three places water had spilled over while people drew from the hand pump and had stagnated, leading to proliferation of mosquitoes and insects. Our teams cleared the areas, removing scum and organic growth and dug canals to drain away the water.

Cleaning the waterhole in Compartment 110

Our team joined the Forest Department in night patrols on the road from Mangezari to Kodebarra on April 13 & 29 April 2014. Power cables run on poles erected by the side of the road. In the past, there have been instances of poaching on this road when poachers used hooks and wires to draw power from the cables and killed animals by electrocution. Sometimes, wires are drawn several hundred metres into the jungle from the cables. At least one gaur and one leopard have been killed over the past year, using this method. Besides our staff, volunteers from the youth club at Mangezari also joined in the special patrols.

Patrol in buffer area near Kodebarra, by volunteers from the Youth Club
mentored by us. Forest Guard Kahudkar is second from the right. 

Volunteers from Youth Club on night patrol with Forest Guard
Rahandale in the buffer area from Mangezari to Kodebarra

We also organized a programme on April 30 at Mangezari to create awareness about forest fires and human-wildlife conflict. There is increased incidence of forest fires and conflict with wildlife as villagers go into the jungle to pick Mahua flowers and tendu leaves. Photo below.

With the heat rising in the summer, our team has been motivating villagers to put up pots with water so that birds can quench their thirst. In a programme on April 15, we arranged for 15 pots to be put up near Pongezara Temple by youths from Mangezari.  H. D. Asole, Forest Guard, participated in this programme which was led by Mukund and Jivraj.

Education

There were no classroom programmes as schools were busy with annual exams.

Jindatola ZP school students on anti-plastic drive

Education van

There were no film shows as schools were busy with annual exams.

Employment Cell activities

During April, we identified and sent 11 youths for training in computer skills which will improve their chances of getting jobs. The youths were sent for a month-long training programme in desktop publishing, data entry and use of tally package. The training was conducted at Gondia at STAR Rojgar Training Centre, an institute funded by Bank of India. The training began on April 6. All expenses will be borne by the institute. The youths are from 4 villages in our area of operations - Mangezari, Kodebarra, Jindatola and Govindtola.

MHU

There were 12 health camps in April.