Pune, www.dnaindia.com PUNE Thursday, February 19, 2009 epaper.dnaindia.com 5

PICS BY VIDYA ATHREYA

A girl who was attacked by a in The doctor inserting a microchip into the leopard’s body. Microchips provide a life-long A microchip among brown rice-gives an idea of its size. The chips are uniquely numbered . identification. and can be read like a barcode is in a supermarket. MOVING THE AWAY FROM THEIR HOME IS THE VERY ROOT OF THE PROBLEM IT SEEKS TO SOLVE

Pankaj Sekhsaria The two-month period stretching from October 31 to December 24 saw six attacks in a region that had To understand the serious incidents in Junnar absolutely no such history. The attacks stopped only Conflict in Junnar is due to involving big cats attacking humans, we need to go when trap cages were put in place and two leopards back to 2003. It was the time when the human-leopard were caught. What was striking about both these leop- conflict had peaked. ards, one male, the other female, was that these were Leopards were being captured in cages in an effort Junnar leopards that had been released here just a few to deal with the problem. Trapping leopards has, for weeks ago. The chips inserted before their release long, been the main response to deal with a conflict sit- had confirmed this fact. Movement of captured leop- uation. It is also one way of showing that action is in- ards from the area of conflict had in fact helped move TRANSLOCATION deed being taken. This becomes particularly relevant the conflict to the new areas and significantly,to where when there are human attacks and demand from the it had never existed. This was not an isolated case. public, the politicians and the media to do something It was becoming increasingly clear that the huge WRONG KILLED CONFLICT MOVED ANIMALS RETURN mounts. It happened in Junnar and continues to hap- problem of human-leopard conflict that seemed to be pen in a number of other places too. spreading all over was essentially, a human created In a recent response to an appli- A small boy was attacked in It is now well-known that large carnivores The recent case of shooting down the one. Athreya wrote almost immediately to cation filed under the Right to the Radhanagari wildlife sanc- like bears, leopards and have a very wrong tiger in Tadoba Tiger Reserve is a clas- the chief wildlife warden of the state that Information Act (RTI), 2005, the tuary in Kolhapur district in strong homing tendency and they instinc- sic case of wrong decisions being taken under they were now certain that nearly all the cas- state forest department admitted February 2004 by a leopard. The tively try to return to the area that they had intense media glare and political pressure. es of conflict and attack on humans that had that the wrong tiger was killed leopard suffered a serious been moved from. As far as Junnar is concerned, a team of exclusive occurred across the state from 2001 to 2004 as a maneater in the Tadoba injury (broken skull) when it There are instances of the cougars, a leop- researchers that included Vidya Athreya and were indeed due to the translocation that had forests in 2007. The depart- was assaulted by the father ard-sized wild cat found on the American Pune-based veterinarian Anirudh Belsare had part IV preceded them. ment's reply stated that it had defending his child. The animal continent, having travelled over 400 km started working on getting a scientific under- Translocation which was being considered acted in haste under political was trapped by the forest back to their site of capture to resume live- standing of the cause of the increased conflict. a simple answer and in use all over India, in fact, lay pressure and points to letters it department and was identified stock depredation. A part of their effort was to mark and electronically at the very root of the problem it sought to solve. It is received from local politicians by its chip as the female that tag these problem animals. This was done by inserting only with the benefit of hindsight, we can now say we a problem leopard caught who had threatened to agitate had been captured in Closer home, a small rice grain sized chip at the point where the an- should have been more careful. Hopefully, the lessons 120 km away and released inside the and even kill the man-eater Narayangaon (Pune district) in imals' tails are attached to the body. The chips are have been learnt and the same mistakes will not be Nagarhole national park in Karnataka in themselves. Villagers had com- March 2003. It was released in uniquely numbered and can be read like a barcode is made again. There certainly are other contributory fac- 1990 had immediately moved out of the plained in October 2007 that a the Radhanagari forests in in the supermarket. Since captured leopards at that tors, some known and others that have still to be un- park. tigress was killing people and February 2004. The attack had point were being released into other areas with poten- covered, but one key causative factor has certainly been cattle in and around the Tadoba- occurred a day after she had Another problem leopard captured in tially thick forests, it was hoped that the tagging exer- understood. The earlier work that led to critical un- Andhari tiger reserve. The been released and less than 5 Gujarat and translocated 30 km away was cise would help in tracking them once they were set free. derstanding of the problem in Junnar is an excellent department began a hunt in km from her release site. fitted with a radio collar. It immediately A number of these tagged leopards were moved example of that, as is the present effort at under- November but failed to capture Similarly another feline that returned to its earlier territory and 400 km to the Yawal wildlife sanctuary in Jalgaon dis- standing the leopards of Akole and its behaviour. the animal. Local politicians then was caught in Sangamner and resumed livestock depredation. trict like they were to other parts of the state. They We might not know all the causes that could push turned up the heat. During a sub- inserted with a chip was The Yawal leopard too had moved nearly were subsequently released into these forests. the Akole situation in a Junnar- like direction; but we sequent operation, the officials released in Borivli's Sanjay 90 km in the direction of Junnar from the Yawal's forests have always had leopards but there can now say with confidence that we know of at least sighted a tiger eating its kill. The Gandhi National Park only to be site of her release inside the Yawal wildlife were never any reports of attacks on humans. There a critical few. The least we should ensure is that we team fired 39 bullets, of which 12 recaptured in a Thane marriage sanctuary, before she was captured the was surprise and huge fear then, when villages in don't repeat the mistakes of the past. hit the mark. hall a few weeks later. second time. and around the forests, experienced a sudden and vi- cious spate of leopard attacks towards the end of 2003. TOMORROW: Interview with Vidya Athreya Pioneers of citizens’ Revenue staff services honoured State norms to assess Tushar Sampat, of . It provided them an income of Rs 5,000 to stir: Citizens Ravi Ghate get Rs10,000 per month. autonomous institutes Ghate said that the The parameters will Nasscom awards newsletter caters to at least 1,000 citizens residing in a ensure quality education DNA Correspondent bear the brunt specific 1 km area. He said in engineering institutes that the information along Work at Citizens’ plications were not accepted City-based health portal aro- with the consent of these cit- in the state, says council at the CFC at all. gya.com promoter Tushar izens is collected by filling up Facilitation Centre Important certificates like Sampat and SMS-based local forms. DNA Correspondent comes to a domicile certificate and caste community newsletter pro- Ghate said that his compa- certificate are issued at the moter Ravi Ghate were hon- ny had imparted training to Director of Technical Education SK standstill centre. A large number of cit- oured with the National As- 350 youth from various dis- Mahajan said the state government is izens gather at the CFC to get sociation of Software and tricts so that they can inform likely to set key parameters to assess DNA Correspondent their certificates. Services Companies the company about local de- the standard of the educational insti- Officer in-charge Jyoti (Nasscom) Foundation’s velopments which are used tutes, which will obtain the au- Citizens were put to much in- Kadam said, “Everyday more social innovation honour. for newsletters. tonomous status in the future. convenience on Tuesday than 1,000 citizens file applica- Union minister for trade Sampat said his portal was Mahajan was speaking at a day-long The director of technical education, SK Mahajan. when the applications for var- tions at centre.”Meanwhile, and commerce Kamal Nath visited by 1,000 citizens. Sup- workshop on ‘Issues related to aca- said that the existence of the autono- nical Education had sent a letter to the ious certificates were not re- district collector Chandrakant gave away the awards at the port groups for various dis- demic autonomy to engineering insti- my depends on transparency and eval- Central Board of Secondary Education ceived at the Citizens’ Dalvi said that he had request- India Leadership Forum in eases including epilepsy tutions’ on Tuesday. uation of the institutes. “The good re- (CBSE) to increase the number of ex- Facilitation Centre (CFC) in ed some revenue officers to ex- New Delhi last week. Ghate were getting encouraging re- Bansilal Ramnath Agarwal Chari- sults of the autonomous institutes will amination centres from two to six in the collectorate. clude the centre from their ag- said that smsone, the local sponses. Such support table Trust’s Vishwakarma Institute of only be seen after 10 to 15 years. The in- the state for the All India Engineering The revenue employees itation in view of the incon- SMS community newsletter groups for diseases helped Technology (VIT) in association with stitutes should have accountability,”he Entrance Exam (AIEEE) but the board were agitating for parity in venience caused to citizens. had benefited 350 unem- the patients and their the Directorate of Technical Education said. He also appealed to the chairper- is yet to reply on the matter. pay scales.Revenue employ- State government employ- ployed youth from 25 districts relatives cope. organised the workshop for chairper- Forbes Marshall director Naushad ees, as part of their agitation, ees of the revenue depart- sons and principals of engineering in- qualitycontrol Forbes expressed the need of good fac- have stopped doing non–rev- ment under the leadership of stitutions in the state. ulties in engineering colleges to main- enue work including that of Mahasul Mahasangh Kruti Every institute claims to be one of sons and principals to apply for the au- tain the quality. the CFC where citizens are Samitee are demanding that the best institutes for gaining the au- tonomous status. Enlisting the benefits of autonomy given 29 various certificates. their pay scales be made tonomous status but there are no pa- Speaking on the sidelines of the for the engineering colleges, VIT di- The issuing of certificates equivalent to the employees of rameters or benchmarks of quality ed- function, he said the All India Council rector HK Abhyankar said the autono- had stopped on February 12 other departments. ucation, Mahajan said. for Technical Education (AICTE) has my led to unprecedented growth in self- due to the agitation. But the Revenue employees said “For assessing the quality of these received around 125 proposals for open- financed engineering colleges from applications of citizens were that after implementation of institutes, the government is likely to ing engineering colleges across the 1998 onward. “Due to the autonomous being accepted by the the recommendations of sixth set certain parameters,” he said. state and the seat availability is likely status, the engineering colleges can employees at the CFC. pay commission, their salaries Stressing the need for the au- to go up from 60,000 to 85,000. offer demand-based and value-added About 5,000 applications would be less by Rs6,000 than tonomous status for each institutes, he He also said the Directorate of Tech- courses,” he said. filed in the last few days are those in equivalent ranks from Ravi Ghate — FILE PHOTO pending. On Tuesday, the ap- other departments. Shahu Maharaj’s statue installed in parliament Hundreds of people tributed Rs21 lakh towards the cost of attended the celebrations. the statue. “The dream of having Shahu Ma- gathered at Dassera Hundreds of people, including stu- haraj’s statue at the parliament has been Chowk in Kolhapur to dents, gathered at Dassera Chowk in Kol- realised, finally.We will always be thank- hapur to celebrate the event. ful to the president, the parliament and celebrate the event Mayor Uday Salonkhe, Marathi daily the prime minister,” Jadhav said. Pudhari’s editor Pratapsinh Jadhav,col- The celebrations were marked by a DNA Correspondent. KOLHAPUR lector Laxmikant Deshmukh, Shivaji procession of as many as 18,000 school- University vice-chancellor Manikrao children carrying various tableaux on The people of Kolhapur celebrated the Salunkhe, ZP CEO Jayshri Bhoj, in- the life of Shahu Maharaj. The main at- installation of the statue of legendary spector general of Kolhapur range traction was showering of petals on social reformer Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Ashok Dhivare, superintendent of po- Shahu Maharaj ‘s statue at Dassera on the parliament premises. lice Chandrakant Kumbhar, Kolhapur Chowk from a helicopter of The statue was installed on Tuesday municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal, industrialist Sanjay Ghodawat. as per the resolution passed in 2003. Nationalist Congress Party leader Shahu Maharaj’s posters and hoard- Former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Dhananjay Mahadik and member of ings, saffron flags and balloons were put Joshi had taken the efforts in this re- Kolhapur’s royal family up in the city and sweets, sugar and milk PROUD MOMENT: People gathered at Dassera Chowk on Tuesday to celebrate the installation of Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj’s gard. The Maharashtra government con- Madhurimaraje Chhatrapati also were distributed to the people. statue in Parliament. (Inset) A helicopter showered petals on the statue in Kolhapur —ADITYA VELHAL