Telangana: Forest department plans to develop Palle Pashuvu Vanam

Palle Pashuvu Vanam would be developed on each fringe village where people rear cattle, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal said.

Hyderabad: Taking a cue from the immensely popular Palle Prakruthi Vanam concept, the State Forest department is now planning to develop Palle Pashuvu Vanam to curb illegal grazing, control wildfires and reduce man-animal conflict.

To start off, these vanams will come up in villages under the Amrabad and Kawal Tiger Reserve.

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Unless there was a safe and bankable alternative for villagers, it was tough to stop them from venturing into the deep forests. Palle Pashuvu Vanam would be developed on each fringe village where people rear cattle, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal said.

These vanams would be developed in an area covering about 50 to 100 hectares. Grazing would be permitted on rotational basis and this would aid in ensuring growth of grass as well. Grazing would be permitted in one particular area in the vanam in a week and another location would be identified the next week, he explained.

The department officials would convince the villagers to direct the cattle to the permitted areas for grazing and efforts would be taken to fence these areas. In this way cattle would be protected and the entire area would also be protected and high yielding good grass would be readily available in all seasons for the cattle.

“More importantly, the move will facilitate in building a good rapport with villagers and avoid man-animal conflict” said Dobriyal.

The Forest department will create grasslands in highly degraded fringe areas as part of the Vanams. It will be intensive management of the area and grass varieties, which are palatable to the cattle, would be grown extensively in each vanam as per the requirements of local villagers.

The idea was to develop one Palle Pashuvu Vanam in each DFO range and plans were being made to ground at least a few by next year. Already, the Wildlife Institute of India has been roped to conducted detailed survey in identifying suitable locations for developing the vanams, the PCCF said.

Illegal grazing has been a challenge for the department. In Amrabad Tiger Reserve limits, shepherds and cattle farmers, especially those migrating from far off places, including those from Nalgonda, Narayanpet, Gadwal and Mahabubnagar districts, venture deep into forest. Shepherds and cattle farmers camp for months together in the area. This practice is affecting the local flora and fauna.

Maddimadugu is significant as the population of Chinkaras is high in this part of ATR. With cattle grazing the local flora, availability of natural species is getting limited for Chinkaras and other animals, said an official.

Further, the cattle, sheep and goats, develop foot and mouth infections and such cattle are discarded and left to die. There is every possibility of wild animals getting infected through these cattle. It is risky in terms of Tiger and other animals’ conservation, the official added.