Activity Update September 2015: Pench Madhya Pradesh

Team: Anoop Awasthi – Assistant Director

            Niranjan Hinge, Kamlesh Pawar – Field Assistants

 

Highlights

• Created a compost tank in Turia village
• Created a soak pit in Kundai village
• 12 nature trails for school children – attended by 148 students
• Organized plantation programmes in Turia and Teliya villages
• Organized anti-plastic drives in Satosha  and Tuyepani villages
• Organized rally with conservation message at Tuyepani village
• 19 environmental education programmes. addressed 373 school children about nature and environmental issues
• Organized 6 medical camps - 101 patients treated
• Assisted the Forest Department in identifying eligible candidates for vocational training as tourist guides. Identified 10 eligible candidates from buffer villages around Turia gate in Pench, Madhya Pradesh
• Assisted 3 youths from Dewri and Tuyepani in getting vocational training through BCRLIP

Conservation

On September 23, Anoop and Niranjan led 5 villagers from Turia village in a voluntary work project to create a compost tank. They explained the purpose of the compost tank to the participants. We have created this compost tank to dispose of organic leftovers from households and from livestock that will turn into organic fertilizer after some time. This will be used in agriculture and will reduce the use of chemical-based fertilizers in farming near the Tiger Reserve.

Digging a compost pit at Turia

On September 8, Kamlesh Pawar led 120 students of Tuyepani in an anti-plastic programme, where they collected wrappers, bags and other items made out of plastic. A similar programme was organized by Niranjan in Satosha village on September 16 with the help of 46 villagers.

Garbage collection drive at Tuyepani

In September we organized a total of 13 nature trails for the children of Teliya, Kohoka, Satosha, Turia, Khamba, Ambadi, Jamuntola, Aamajhari, Teliya, Chirrewani, Kundai, Bisanpur and Tuyepani villages. On the trails, our staff spoke to the children about the various local plants and common medicinal uses of those plants. They were also taught how to spot and identify birds. The importance of birds in nature was also explained to the children. Photos below.

Trail at Mohgaon

Birdwatching at Satosha

Trail at Khamba

Our team organized plantation programmes in Turia and Teliya villages. Species of the saplings distributed included mango, jamun and heta. 

Photos below: Plantation in Teliya

We organized a rally with the message of biodiversity conservation in Tuyepani village. 120 students participated in the rally. Participants went across all the main roads within the village, chanting slogans like 'Apna farz nibhayenge, Tiger ko bachayenge'. Photo below.

















On September 16, World Ozone Day was celebrated in Satosha village. On this occasion, our team organized an anti-plastic campaign, rally with conservation message and lecture on importance of the ozone layer in human life. We also promoted biodiversity conservation through the rally.  Photos below.

On August 27, Anoop participated in a meeting on ‘Garbage Management in buffer area of Pench’. The meeting was attended by the Chief Executive Officer of Janpad Panchayat, Kurai, Mr. Khushram and Sarpanches of Turia and Kohoka, around 21 managers of local resorts and members of the Gram Panchayat. At the meeting it was decided that each resort would contribute Rs 80 per room per month towards garbage management. This amount will be given to the Gram Panchayat, Turia. The resorts have agreed to segregate their waste into 3 categories – biodegradable, non-degradable and waste comprising glass and metal. The Turia Gram Panchayat will send a vehicle twice a week to collect the garbage. The degradable waste will be converted into compost while the other two varieties will be kept in tanks and sent to urban centres for recycling in bulk.

There is no formal garbage management at present and waste is strewn out on to the roads and in empty plots. This has led to a proliferation of stray dogs while wild life is also attracted to the food waste, leading to potential human-wildlife conflict.

As all the measures mentioned above have not been implemented according to the scheme, Mr Anoop Awasthi wrote a letter along with photographs of demolished compost tanks to the District Collector and Field Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh. We are expecting that these administrative authorities will send officials to inspect the condition of the compost tanks and that they will ensure that this programme is run in a proper manner as decided in the meeting held on August 27, 2015, at Turia.

Photos below: Current condition of the compost tanks

Environmental Education Programme

19 educational programmes took place with 373 students attending.     

Photos: Kamlesh and Niranjan conducting nature education classes



















Employment Cell  

We have assisted the Forest Department in identifying eligible female candidates for training as guides. The training programme took place at Turia gate on September 23-27.

Details of the candidates are given below:

We assisted in identifying unemployed youths for vocational training as JCB operators at CII Chhindwara through BCRLIP.

Details of the candidates are given below: 

Mobile Health Unit (MHU)

We held 12 medical camps in September, at which 101 patients were treated.

Dr Pathak at the Khamrith camp