PANAJI
Taking serious note of the multiple fire incidents in and around the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and raging blaze reported in several other parts of the State earlier this year leading to large scale destruction, the Goa government has now proposed the use of drones to monitor forest areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national park.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane said that the department will make use of drone technology to monitor all forest areas including reserved, protected, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and private forests. He said that in the first phase, eight to ten drones would be put for surveillance.
Rane said that the technology will monitor forests on a large scale wherein it will keep track of suspicious activities, fires or any other activities within the forest areas and thus it will enhance transparency, credibility of forest governance in the eye of the public.
A drone is a remote-controlled, unstaffed aerial vehicle (UAV) that can provide a 360-degree view during its flight.
“We are currently training staff on drone monitoring. This also includes women. The technology will provide us with real time mapping and data, especially on forest fire,” the Minister said adding “we have also requested the Forest Survey of India to provide us web-based real-time data on forest fires in future”.
“We want to ensure that what happened in the past (forest fires) is not repeated this time. That is why we are taking all precautions, roping in technology and training our people as well as locals,” he added.
Rane said that nearly 600 wildlife trackers are undergoing advance training and another 350-odd people are trained under Apada Mitra and Sakhi scheme, to deal with emergency situations like forest fire.
According to the government information, nearly 4.18 square kilometres of forest area including 2.27 sq kms in three wildlife sanctuaries were affected due to the 74 sporadic fire incidents reported in private land, reserve forests, comunidade land and protected areas across the State in March. Of the total 74 fire incidents reported during the first fortnight of March, 32 were reported in three wildlife sanctuaries.
The Minister further said that the forest department will prohibit entry of people in the forest areas and initiate criminal action against those with unauthorized access under the Wildlife Protection Act. “We will also be writing to the District Collector to initiate similar action against those who indulge in mischief in private forest areas,” he said.
Rane said that the department has already undertaken tree plantation in around 365 hectares, using drones and cutting-edge technologies, across the forest areas that were burnt during the wildfire.
