The state forest department has decided to open an office of the assistant wildlife warden (AWLW) for better conservation of the Neora Valley National Park (NVNP) located in Kalimpong district.
The park, which extends up to a height of 10,000 feet above sea level, is a known habitat of the Royal Bengal Tiger. It is also rich in flora and is the habitat of a number of other rare animal species.
“It has been decided to set up an office of AWLW in NVNP. The office will be in Lava of Kalimpong. The new office will help in the protection of the tiger habitat as well as for the conservation of biodiversity at the park,” said Dwijapratim Sen, the divisional forest officer of Gorumara wildlife division.
The park is under this division of the forest department. As of now, there are four forest range offices and 14 forest beat offices located in different locations of NVNP.
“From now on, the AWLW, who will be of the rank of an additional divisional forest officer, will work from Lava. Range officers and beat officers can get most of their jobs done from the office, instead of travelling to Jalpaiguri,” said a senior forester.
At the office, the AWLW, a range officer, and a data entry operator will be posted, along with some forest guards.
In NVNP, a picture of a tiger was clicked by a cab driver in 2017 near Lava. This made the forest department install trap cameras in various elevations of the park. In 2018 and 2019, around 15 photos of tigers were clicked.
This made the department conduct an extensive survey to estimate the population of tigers.
“In 2022, the exercise was carried out and reports were sent to concerned authorities for the estimation. We are yet to get the details,” the forester added.
Prabir Bhattacharya, the Jalpaiguri district president of Paschimbanga Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Federation (Aranya Sakha), welcomed the decision.
“We have raised the demand a number of times from our organization. It is good that the department has finally made the decision,” he said.
Gaur
The photo of a gaur (Indian bison) was recently clicked in a trap camera at an elevation of 3,568 metres at the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the Pakyong district of Sikkim.
Sources in the state forest and environment department said the bovine, which
has been marked as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was spotted at a record height as it is usually found at lower elevations.
On June 24, there were reports that a minor boy in Arigaon village of Rhenock village under the same district got injured after a gaur strayed into the village.
“Patrolling has been intensified in the area even though there are indications that the animal might have moved into Bengal. People have been asked to be on alert,” said a source.
