Amid rising Asiatic lion population in Gujarat, the state government has initiated steps to strengthen the management of the Porbandar forest division with the aim to develop Barda area as the ‘second home’ for the big cats.
The government has undertaken restructuring of the Porbandar division for better flexibility in the implementation of schemes and improvement of forest management as part of a fast-track exercise to ‘firm up’ the rehabilitation of lions at Barda.
The natural return of lions at Barda after 143 years prompted the state government for the restructuring exercise, which involves formation of new range-beats, area responsibility, arrangement of two Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACFs) under the division and consolidation of related staff-equipment, stated an official release.
“The reorganisation exercise has been undertaken to ease resolution of forest and environment related issues and bring about flexibility in implementation of the schemes of the department, improve forest management and rehabilitation of lions in Barda area,” it said.
This will bring about better clarity in the responsibilities of the personnel and officers and create a base for more streamlined operations at the ground level within the forest division, stated the release.
As per a census conducted in May this year, the estimated population of Asiatic lions in Gujarat has increased to 891 as compared to 674 five years ago.
In the previous census conducted in June 2020, the big cat population in the state was estimated at 674.
As per the government resolution (GR), Porbandar and Ranavav have been divided into separate beats for the management of forest conservation, patrolling and other departmental operations. With the restructuring, the number of range forests in Porbandar forest division increases to seven, to be kept under Junagadh wildlife circle.
While the Porbandar range has been restructured covering 80 villages across 6,840.84 hectare areas and beats, Ranavav range covers 13,051.25 hectares across 27 villages, it said.
Also, 305.94 hectares of the Bhatia range of the forest division under neighbouring Jamnagar have been included under the Bhanwad range of the Porbandar forest division.
Furthermore, social forestry ranges of Kutiyana and Ranavan have also been brought under Porbandar forest division, it said.
After reorganisation, two ACFs have been assigned the responsibility for the supervision and operation of different areas, stated the release.
Formation of new range-beats, area responsibility, arrangement of two ACFs and consolidation of related staff-equipment are key parts of this process, it said.
With the resolution, the restructuring comes into force with immediate effect, with the consolidation of the areas into an integrated administrative structure providing a stronger administrative basis for forest management in the Barda area, it added.