More heads are likely to roll in Kagaznagar Forest Division in Kumram Bheem Asifabad as skeletons come tumbing out of the cupboard. Top officials are inquiring into reasons for failure of a 50 hectare plantation under the prestigious Telanganaku Haritha Haram (THH) plantation drive in one of the forest ranges.
It is reliably learnt that while negligence in maintenance of the plantation led to dying of plants, concerned officials put into practice a bizarre logic of removing the unchecked growth of grass and weeds from it. They let sheep graze in the plantation last October contending that the animals will eat away all the grass and weeds, which actually resulted in further deterioration of the condition of the plantation.
When it comes to failure in control of poaching, one Deputy Range Officer was placed under suspension on Friday for his alleged negligence in checking out activities of poachers in setting up electrified traps for wild animals in the area under his jurisdiction which, unusually though, led to the electrocution of the poacher himself instead of a tiger which was the target.
Going on for long
In another development a few days back, a few kilogrammes of binding wire was seized from the range which is one of the most ecologically sensitive one in the division.
“The size, or weight, of the haul reveals that poaching is going on in that range,” opined an officer as he talked of the situation. “The smallest of negligence can play havoc with the survival of wild animals in the area,” he added.
Officials who are disturbed over the developments want the Excise Department also to be part of the drive as poachers are known to be brewing liquor illicitly, the brew known as gudumba locally. “Our study of the behaviour of poachers makes us believe that when poachers get deprived of gudumba, they do not go into forests,” the officer contended.
“So far as control of poaching by using live wires is concerned, insulating all the power cables that pass through forests and its fringes will do the trick. This may be a costly affair but it would be a perfect and long lasting measure,” he observed.
