Tigers have killed two persons in Chandrapur district in four days, taking the human death toll in the conflict to 10 since January 1. (Representational image)
Spared of coronavirus infection as yet, the Chandrapur district is back in the throes of man-animal conflict with the onset of mahua flower collection season.
Tigers have killed two persons in the district in four days, taking the human death toll in the conflict to 10 since January 1.
On April 11, Gulab Nikure, 45, from Kawadpeth village in Chandrapur forest division, was killed by a tiger when he had gone into the forest to collect mahua flowers. On April 8, a woman from Satara village in the buffer zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), was killed inside TATR. She was also collecting mahua flowers.
The incidents had occurred after a brief lull of 24 days after one person was killed on March 14. The district witnessed 23 deaths in tiger and leopard attacks last year.
Mahua flowers are used in many edibles, including oil, by villagers as also to extract sherbet and country liquor. Along with tendu leaves that are used to roll beedis, mahua flowers offer villagers a substantial income to sustain through the year.
Chandrapur is one of few districts that have seen no coronavirus positive cases till date. However, the nationwide lockdown has arrested people’s movement in the forest right when the mahua season begins in early April. Tendu season begins in the first week of May. The man-animal conflict generally intensifies during these two months with a large number of people moving into forests.
Chandrapur Chief Conservator of Forest Rama Rao said: “We were witnessing an unprecedented calm inside the forests owing to the coronavirus lockdown. But people are now venturing into the forests again. The area where Saturday’s incident happened is known for the movement of tigers.”
Lockdown has also had a salutary effect on forest fires. “Forest fires are most common during summer as mahua and tendu collectors set fire to the leaves on the forest floor so that they could easily pick up flowers that fall on the ground from the trees. This time we have managed to pick dried mahua leaves from the forest floor,” Rama Rao said.
Additional Principal Chief n Conservator of Forest (Protection) Mohan Karnat said, “We are looking at a substantially less number of forest fires this year. Compared to last year’s 13,200 incidents in the January -March period last year, we have had only 5,200 incidents in the same period this year. The corresponding areas affected are 23,900 hectare and 2, 000 hectare, which is a substantial drop,” he said.
Karnat adds: “March is when maximum damage is reported.”
Forest officials are not restricting the entry of villagers into the forests for mahua collection. “It doesn’t entail violation of social distancing norms as generally trees are allocated to different families. So, there is no crowding at one place. Even for tendu collection, the villagers keep apart from each other as trees are separated by a safe distance,” said Rao.
The overall turnover of tendu business in districts like Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia, Bhandara, Yavatmal and parts of Nagpur and Amravati districts runs into hundreds of crores with Gadchiroli alone cornering over Rs 200 crore in a season.
Meanwhile, tendu collectors have sought relaxation of lockdown restrictions for the incoming season. “If the lockdown is further extended, the tendu contractors will not be able to travel to this area. Most of the tendu auctions have been completed. Only agreements have to be signed with the contractors now. A family of four earns up to Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 in one tendu season lasting only15 days in May. The government must ensure that the lockdown doesn’t rob villagers of this precious tendu and mahua income,” said social and health activist Satish Gogulwar, who guides the Korchi Mahagramsabha, an umbrella organisation of 80 villages of Korchi tahsil of Gadchiroli dissect on tendu strategies.I
Gogulwar, who runs health NGO Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi at Kurkheda in Gadchiroli, has written in this regard to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. He said he is expecting a favourable response.