Rishikesh, 23 August (HS). District Forest Officer (DFO) Neeraj Kumar Sharma has given instructions to dig a multipurpose trench on the forest boundary to protect crops from wildlife. To comply with the instructions, the in-charge Forest Range Officer Trainee IFS Tarun S asked the Forest Range Officer Gambhir Singh Dhamanda and subordinate officers to select sensitive places for the protection of the wildlife affected area Khadar and pay attention to security management.
Local resident and social worker Vinod Juglan said that the Khadar region is the first fertile ground of Gangaji. Advanced farming was done here for years, which is now being continuously destroyed by the wildlife coming from Rajaji National Park. Farmers affected by the wildlife are now forced to turn away from farming and sell their fields. In such a situation, digging ditches is necessary to stop the arrival of wildlife from the forest border. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the work of digging ditches was started here on Monday by the Forest Department. The work started by Vinod Juglan, the nominated member of the District Ganga Suraksha Samiti, by breaking a coconut and offering it to Gangaji. After this, the work of digging ditches on the forest border started with proper worship.
Forest Officer G.S. Dhamanda said that due to the digging of the ditch, large animals like elephants will not be able to enter the village boundary. On the other hand, seeds of wild species will be sown on the sides of this ditch. This will create bio fencing on the forest boundary in the coming time. This will also protect the ten hectare plantation established in the year 2020 under Namami Gange.
At the inauguration of the ditch digging, environmentalist Dr Vinod Juglan, Forest Officer GS Dhamanda, Deputy Officer Satish Pokhriyal, Deputy Ranger Chandra Shekhar Bhatt, Forest Beat Officer Rajesh Bahuguna, Avtar Singh Rawat, Forest Guard Subhash Bahuguna, Forest worker Manoj Kumar Bhola etc were prominently present.