Activity Update August 2018: Navegaon-Nagzira

Highlights:

Clearing the area around a hand pump, Asalpani

Wildlife film screening at Bolunda

Dr Khode at our free health camp at Chorkhamara

Unemployed villagers study details of skill-building development
programs at Jindatola

A water conservation structure being put up at Jindatola

Kodebarra plastic litter clean-up drive

Above, below: Mukund Dhurve teaches students to make eco-friendly
Ganesh idols

THE FULL REPORT

Team:

Mukund Dhurve         - Asst.  Conservation Officer

Jivraj Salam                 - Field assistant

Surajlal Tekam            - Field assistant                                                                            

Highlights

·      Joined Forest Department staff on patrols on 6 occasions

·      4 community assistance voluntary work projects to clean areas next to hand pumps at

·      4 anti-plastic programs

·      Organised 5 education programs in which 1,013 students were present

·      Organised 6 films shows on wild life for 699 students

·      7 unemployed villagers placed in jobs

·      Organised 2 meetings for unemployed youth

·      Organised 6 medical camps in which 269 patients got free treatment

Conservation  

Our team organised 4 community assistance programs on August 5, 7, 11 and 14 to clear areas around hand pumps at Asalpani, Bodalkasa, Chorkhamara and Mangezari. Unemployed young villagers from Mangezari participated in all the programs, led by Mukund and Jivraj. Details of the programs are given in the table above.

Water had spilled over while people drew from the hand pumps and had stagnated, leading to proliferation of mosquitoes and insects. Our teams cleared the area, removing scum and organic growth and dug canals to drain away the water.

Our team joined the Forest Department in day and night patrols on several occasions during the month. Details are listed in the table above. Besides our staff, volunteers from a youth club at Mangezari also joined in the patrols. The youth club was set up with our assistance and is mentored by our Conservation Officer Mukund Dhurve.     

During the month, our team organised 4 anti-plastic programs to clean polythene/plastic litter from villages. The programs were organised on August 5, 7, 11 and 14 at Asalpani, Bodalkasa, Chorkhamara and Mangezari villages respectively. Mukund and Jivraj organised the programs which were attended by villagers and Village Eco-Development Committee (VEDC) members. The plastic litter has been kept in our Mangezari office and will be sent to Tiroda for recycling.

The Government of Maharashtra has issued the buffer zone notification for the Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve. Following this, doubts have sprung up in the minds of villagers as to how they will be affected by the notification. Due to the doubts, some villagers are opposing the notification. To clear these doubts and misgivings, we organised a total of 4 awareness programs during August in Umarzari, Thadezari, Pitambartola and Sodlagondi.

 Education

There were 5 classroom education programs in August 2018.

Education van

There were 6 film shows on nature and wildlife conservation during August.

Employment Cell activities

During the month, we helped seven villagers get temporary employment with the Forest Department.  

Employment Cell Training activities

During the month, we helped 10 villagers attend a program which taught them housekeeping and hospitality skills suitable for the hotel industry. The program was held at the Pratham Arora Centre for Education at Sillari, Pench and was funded by the Pench Tiger Conservation Foundation.

MHS

There were 6 health camps in August.