Amrabad Tiger Reserve plagued with staff and funds crunch

ATR had to create nearly 1400 km forest lines, including view lines but hardly 200 km of forest lines have been created till date due to paucity of funds.

Hyderabad: Amrabad is the second largest Tiger Reserve in terms of core area and the sixth largest in terms of total area among 51 Tiger Reserves in India. Yet, Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) is plagued with issues like staff shortage and a fund crunch, which is affecting protection of forest cover and monitoring activities at the field level.

Generally, before the onset of summer under fire control mechanism, ATR personnel create forest lines, which help in controlling the spread of forest fires. ATR had to create nearly 1400 km forest lines, including view lines but hardly 200 km of forest lines have been created till date due to paucity of funds.

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More base camps have to be set up in addition to the existing 23 camps in ATR. For a tiger reserve, which is spread over 2,600 square km, it needs to have at least 70 to 80 base camps. Bandipur reserve, which is spread over 1200 square km has about 60 base camps.

Similarly, fire teams and base camp watchers have been deployed but they are insufficient. Apart from the geographical challenges, with limited staff, vehicles and equipment, the field level teams are finding it difficult to control forest fires.

Though, quick response teams and nearly 15 fire camps with five members each have been constituted this season (January to May), it is insufficient. Usually, teams get forest fire alerts from satellites and to cover a reserve spread over 2,600 square km, it takes lot of time for the teams to reach the locations and douse the flames.

Not to mention about the limited equipment like blowers, fire safety gloves, beaters and others at the disposal for the staff. Likewise, more fire watch towers have to be constructed and wireless equipment is also needed, said an official, adding that it was definitely challenging but that they would try to continue the operations with the available funds.

Interestingly, about Rs.10 lakh was released for firefighting measures to each division. However, these funds are also issued to divisions, which are not prone to any forest fires.

Under the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves in the country, ATR was ranked in the Very Good category (2022) from being ranked in the Good category (2018).
There are expectations among wildlife enthusiasts that ATR should get ranked in the ‘Excellent’ category in the next ratings. However, senior officials in the department are tight-lipped on the measures being taken to address staff and funds crunch.