Team: Anoop Awasthi – Assistant
Director
Niranjan Hinge, Kamlesh Pawar – Field
Assistants
Highlights
·
Organized voluntary work
project to build a check dam at Khamba
·
Organized demonstration of smokeless
chullah at Ambadi, Khamba and Satosha
·
Organized demo on solar
fencing at Turia village
·
Organized voluntary work
project to dig a soak pit in Mohgaon village.
·
7 nature trails for school children – attended
by 80 students
·
Organized anti-plastic
drive and conservation rally in Satosha and Tuyepani
·
19 environmental education programmes -- addressed
531 school children
·
Organized 6 medical camps at which 183 patients were treated
·
Assisted 2 unemployed youths
to get jobs locally in Turia cluster
·
Assisted in solving garbage
disposal problem at Turia
·
Attended meeting with
Environment committee of central government for CAMPA bill 2015
Conservation
On January 10, Kamlesh led 10 students and
villagers from Mohgaon in a programme to dig a soak pit which will take the
spill-over water from the hand pump on the school campus. They explained the
purpose of the soak pit to the participants.
On January 24, Niranjan led a team of 5
villagers of Khamba in a programme to build a stop dam over a stream flowing along
the village boundary about 300 meters from the National Park. The resultant
water body is of great use to domestic and wild animals. Deer, wild boars and
jackals are regularly spotted in this area. Photo below.
On January 3, Kamlesh Pawar led 70 students
of Tuyepani in an anti-plastic and conservation rally programme, where they
collected wrappers, bags and other items made out of plastic which were strewn
around the village. This plastic litter is harmful to the fertile land and domestic
and wild animals. The rally focussed on the message of bio-diversity
conservation. Participants went across all the main roads in the village,
chanting slogans like ‘’Apna farz
nibhayenge, Tiger ko bachayenge’’ etc. A similar programme was organized by
Niranjan in Satosha village on January 19 with the help of 42 students. Photos below.
In January, we organized a total of 7 nature trails for the children of Ambadi, Aamajhari, Durgapur, Satosha, Khamba, Tuyepani and Mohgaon villages. On the trails, our staff spoke to the children about the various 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. Photo below.
On January 7 Niranjan organized a demonstration
at Ambadi of “smokeless chullah” – stoves which use less firewood and emit less
smoke. Similar programmes were organized on January 9 at Khamba and on January
27 at Satosha village. Photo below.
On January 31, Anoop, Niranjan and Dilip
Lanjewar organized a demonstration on improved solar fencing technique, with
help of Nagpur-based firm Agro Engineering Equipment. Solar fencing will help
reduce crop depredations by wildlife and lessen the potential for
human-wildlife conflict. Photos below: demonstrating the fencing.
On January 13, Sainik Divas was organized
in Tuyepani village to honour the families of soldiers.
On January 11, Surya Namaskar programme was organized in Government Middle school, Tuyepani to create awareness among students about the benefits of Yoga.
Kamlesh used these events to spread
conservation message to villagers and students.
On January 23, a Central government
committee consisting of Members of Parliament visited Pench for discussions on
CAMPA (The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill) Bill 2015 and environment
issues. This meeting was organized at Olive Villa resort, Turia. 10 members of the
committee discussed various issues with NGOs, district administrators, Forest Department
officers, local representatives and media. Anoop Awasthi and president of SF
Mr. Kishor Rithe also participated in this meeting and gave their suggestion on
CAMPA bill 2015.
On
August 27, Anoop had 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. The
meeting decided that each resort would contribute 80 rupees per room per month
towards garbage management. This amount would be given to the Gram Panchayat,
Turia.
The
resorts agreed to segregate their waste into 3 categories – bio-degradable, non-degradable
and waste comprising glass and metal.
Turia
Gram Panchayat would 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 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 issues mentioned above did not go properly according to the scheme, Mr
Anoop Awasthi wrote a letter along with photographs of demolished compost tanks
to Dist. Collector and field director of Pench, Madhya Pradesh.
On January
18, the Gram Panchayat organized a meeting with PJLF (Pench Jungle Lodges
Federation) and SF to solve this problem and decided to stop garbage collection
until a proper plan is made for garbage disposal.
Environmental Education
Programme
We conducted 19 environment education
programmes in schools, which were attended by 531 students.
 |
| Nature game at Durgapur |
Employment Cell
We assisted
2 unemployed youths in getting jobs locally.
Details
of the youths are given below:
Satpuda Foundation is planning to conduct a programme to train youths in driving four-wheelers. On January 23, Anoop, Ajay and Niranjan organized a meeting to convey information about this programme to interested youths and to draw a short list of the eligible candidates for training.
Mobile Health Unit (MHU)
We held 6 medical camps in January, in which 183 patients were treated.
