Vellore Circle
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VELLORE CIRCLE ABOUT VELLORE CIRCLE The Vellore Circle, comprising of the forests in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts, was formed by carving from erstwhile Salem Circle (G.O.Ms.No.846 Forest and Fisheries department) on 06.08.1979 with headquarters at Vellore. The circle consists of the following 7 divisions. TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS FUNCTIONAL DIVISION 1) Vellore 1) Social Forestry Division, Vellore 2) Tirupathur 3) Tiruvannamalai North 4) Tiruvannamalai South THE DISTRICT WISE DETAILS OF FOREST AREA IN THIS CIRCLE AS ARE FOLLOWS Sl. Name of the district Total Total forest area (in Percentage of No. geographical area sq.km) forest area (in sq.km) 1 Vellore 5922 1743 29 2 Tiruvannamalai 6312 1437 22.77 TOTAL 12234 3180 25.99 TERRITORIAL DIVISION WISE DETAILS OF FOREST AREA IN VELLORE CIRCLE Sl. Name of the division Reserve Forest Reserve Land Total area (in No. area (in ha) area (in ha) ha) 1 Vellore 99736.415 535.805 100272.220 2 Tirupathur 71126.605 3925.915 75052.520 3 Tiruvannamalai North 67104.93 1325.26 68430.190 4 Tiruvannamalai South 75007.77 136.37 75144.14 TOTAL 312975.720 5923.35 318899.05 FOREST ROADS Various kinds of forest roads connecting various RFs, hamlets remain under the control of Forest department and being maintained. Details of division wise forest roads available in Vellore Circle are as follows: Sl. Name of division Length of roads in kms No. Black top WBM Mud road Cement Total road 1 Vellore 97.40 10.30 64.29 -- 171.99 2 Tirupathur 107.68 23.55 - 0.363 131.59 3 Tiruvannamalai North 140.57 41.63 45.88 - 228.08 4 Tiruvannamalai South 6.87 14.85 - - 21.72 TOTAL 352.52 90.33 110.17 0.363 553.38 Vellore Fort Yelagiri VELLORE FOREST DIVISION The Vellore Division lies between the latitudes North 12o21’ and 13o04’04” and East longitudes 78o34’ and 80o54’ and is bounded by Chitoor Division of Andhra Pradesh in the North and Tirupattur Division in the West. The geographical area of the Vellore District is about 6077sq. Km in which Vellore Forest Division covers an extent of 1002.722 sq.Km (100272.22 Ha.) and this division comprises 7 territorial ranges namely Vellore, Arcot, Gudiyatham, Odugathur, Amirdhi, Pernampet and Rowing Check Post Range. This division comprises 60 Reserved Forests ranging from Scrub thorny Forests to Semi Ever Green Forest. The Reserved Forest and reserved lands pertaining to each Range and their Head quarters are as follows. DETAILS OF RESERVED FORESTS & RESERVED LANDS IN VELLORE FOREST DIVISION Sl. Name of Head Area of RF Area of RL Total Area No. the Range Quarters (in Ha) (in Ha) (in Ha) 1 Vellore Vellore 23431.53.5 264.26.0 23695.79.5 2 Arcot Ranipet 10140.44.5 54.55.0 10194.99.5 3 Gudiyatham Gudiyatham 15209.58 154.63.5 15364.21.5 4 Pernampet Pernampet 18966.48 47.52.50 19014.005 5 Odugathur Odugathur 26181.95.5 14.83.5 26196.79.0 6 Amirdhi Amirdhi 5806.42.0 - 5806.42.0 Total 99736.41.5 535.80.5 100272.22.0 TREES SPECIES DETAILS Sl. No. Tamil Name 1 Naval 2 Thurinji 3 Vagai 4 Thumbi 5 Othiyan 6 Namai 7 Kattuvagai 8 Selaivaagai 9 Ponavaram 10 Sandal 11 Vengai 12 Ayya 13 Thandri 14 Bamboo 15 Karuvakanai WILD ANIMALS DETAILS Sl. No. Tamil Name 1 Pullimaan 2 Kadambaimaan 3 Sarugumaan 4 Kattuerumai 5 Maranaay 6 Kattupanri 7 Erumbuthinni 8 Keeripilli 9 Sennaai 10 Snakes 11 Birds AMIRTHI MINI ZOO The Zoo at Amirthi was established in the year 1967 as ‘Childrens Corner’ by Thiru. Raja Singh, District Forest Officer and later renovated in the year 1979-1980 with a total area of 10 ha. It is located about 25km from Vellore City, inside the Thellai Reserve Forest of Amirthi range with a semi-perennial falls nearby is the only Eco-tourism place present in Vellore Forest Division. Thousands of tourists visit this place every year as this is one of new places of tourist interest in Vellore District. As per G.O No: 278 E&F (FR5) dept date 20.12.12 the entrance fees of the zoo as follows. Details of Amirdhi Mini Zoo Visitors Entrance Fees / Vehicles Sl.No Visitors / Vehicles Details Fees 1 Children below 5 Years No Fees 2 Children age 5 to 12 Years Rs.5.00 3 Adults Rs.10.00 4 Cycle Rs.5.00 5 Two Wheeler Rs.25.00 6 Car / Van Rs.50.00 7 Bus / Lorry (HMV) Rs.200.00 8 Ordinary Camera Rs.25.00 9 Video Camera Rs. 100.00 DISPLAY MATERIALS IN THE INTERPRETATION CENTRE AT AMIRDHI ECO HUT AT AMIRDHI DETAILS OF WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS IN AMIRDHI MINI ZOO S.No Species Present stock with the Zoo 1 Spotted Deer 60 2 Jack 03 3 Peafowl 16 4 Crocodile 02 5 Water Birds 01 6 Porcupine 05 7 Civet Cat 01 8 Rabbit 08 9 Common Duck 06 10 Love Birds 02 11 Star Tortoise 16 12 Mongoose 02 13 Viper Snake 02 14 Cobra 02 15 Python 02 16 Turtle 10 17 Parakeets 05 18 Black Kite 07 19 Dove 11 20 Pigeon 25 21 Sambar Deer 01 22 Country Crane 01 23 Partridge 01 Total 189 TIRUPATHUR DIVISION The Tirupattur forest division was formed in the year 1962 with its head quarters at Tirupattur, in Vellore revenue district. Earlier it was a part of erstwhile Vellore west division which was constituted way back in 1932. An extent of 75,052.52 hectare has been classified as forest which constitutes of about 12.23 % of the total geographical area of the Vellore district. The division shares its boundary with Vellore forest division on its north, Tiruvannamalai on eastern side, Harur in western, Hosur on north western direction respectively. The division shares the Interstate boundary of about 17.2 km with the state of Andhra Pradesh. The division comprises of exquisite eastern ghat hillocks popularly known as Jawadi malai and yelagiri hill which are primarily resided by malayali tribals. The Average elevation of the area ranges from 300 to 1200 meter from MSL with its highest point culminating at swamimalai about 1339 mtr on Yelagiri hills. The organization of the division is furnished as below A. TERRITORIAL RANGES : Area in Ha. Name of the No. of No. of Range sections beats Reserved Reserved Total Forests Land Tirupattur 4 14 16318.980 2865.570 19184.550 Ambur 4 17 24534.775 - 24534.775 Singarapettai 2 8 13470.540 1000.000 14470.540 Alangayam 3 10 16802.310 60.345 16862.655 Total 13 49 71126.605 3925.915 75052.520 B. SPECIAL DUTY RANGE 1. Government sandal wood sale depot The central sandal wood depot established in the year 1937 is serving as storage and sale unit of sandal wood and red sanders logs from across the region. This special range is administered by Single and double locks officers supported by forest guards, watchers and other staff. The entire facility is provided with all modern infrastructures including CCTV surveillance and other safety aspects. Cleaning, Dressing and systematic grading of the sandal wood and red sanders logs are done as per the established protocol. About 19 different grades of sandal wood are available in the depot in various quantities. The wood is being disposed of by departmental tender cum auction method. FLORA AND FAUNA About nine different forest types ranging from tropical southern dry mixed deciduous types to tropical dry evergreen scrub forest types are found distributed in the division. The sandal wood, Terminalia spp, Albizzia spp, Zyziphus, bamboo are the principal species found distributed in the region.etc., The forests are rich in Avifauna and reptiles which includes monitor lizard, varieties of vipers, kraits etc., Wild animals such as Indian gaur, Sloth bear, leopard ,wild boar etc., are commonly found in the division. TRIBAL SCHOOLS AND HOSTELS Higher secondary school at Pudurnadu, Tirupattur range, and high school at Nallivasal, Full-fledged forest schools were established under the administrative control of the forest department in remote, in accessible forest area to provide quality education to tribal and other forest dwellers with a view to promote livelihood opportunities and social equity in the division. About seven such school are being run in the division at Pudurnadu (Tirupattur range) ,Nallivasal (Singarpetteai range ) and Vasantapuram ( Alangayam range ) catering to the needs of about 1728 students of which 845 are girls. These schools includes One Higher Secondary, One High School, 2 Middle and 3 Elementary schools .The schools are provided with all basic infrastructure and necessary teaching and non teaching staff. Total number of 83 school staff is working in these schools under various categories like P.G.Assistants, B.T.Assistants, and Sec Gr Assistants. The Five hostels attached with these schools are providing good quality food and accommodation to the sanctioned strength of about 500 students. TOURISM POTENTIAL The water falls at Jalgamparai, Boat house, Nature Park at Yelagiri hill are some of the tourist places attracting visitors from different parts of the state. The yelagiri hill which is about 35 km away from Tirupattur is also considered to be a hill station and termed as poor man’s Ooty. The trekking path leading from mangalam to swamimalai hill offers exciting opportunities for the trekkers to view panoramic view of landscape and natural beauty of the Eastern Ghats hillocks such as jawadi malai. The Vainu Bappu observatory at Kavalur maintained by Indian institute of physics under Alangayam range allows visitors to view celestial bodies through their various telescopes.