THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Nov. 27: The five eco-development committees in the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) have cleaned the road to the Palamu Quilas, littered with all kinds of garbage, clean.
The five eco-development committees were of the villages Betla, Kolpurwa, Rabdee, Pokhree Khurd and Garee.
Palamu Quila Mela revellers
PTR Deputy Director, North Division, P K Jena said, “The road to the Quilas had garbage and filth on both sides. These were the leftovers of the two-day Palamu Quila Mela revellers.”
Jena said, “They came, saw and went home leaving behind the stink. It’s the 5 eco-development committees that took upon it to free the road to Quila of the garbage.”
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This ‘kar sewa’ was very voluntary. There was no pressure on these eco-development committees from the PTR side, explained Jena.
“I just tried to motivate them. They heard and believed me. Later, they performed too well. Such a work by a common man for the cause of the heritage like Quilas be saluted,” opined Jena.
Bid to sign agreement with PTR
Sources said some people having commercial interests are trying to get into a kind of agreement with the PTR management to keep the Quilas and its surroundings clean for a fee.
Jena said, “I believe in community participation here. In the eco-development committees are the Cheros who are the descendants of the great Raja Medinirai. Their participation in this kind of work has its own importance.”
Sources said the EDCs play a decisive role in the protection of wildlife and jungles.
However, their job gets arduous during the Mahua fruit-picking time. Hordes of women enter the jungles of the tiger reserve only to collect Mahua fruits.
Again, in the rainy season when domestic mushrooms sprout, women and men gather in the jungles to have it.
Mahua fruits and domestic mushrooms
Both Mahua fruits and domestic mushrooms have a good price tag in the market.
Sources said EDCs should be given a few more teeth to handle trekkers here in the PTR who call the shots the wrong way.
Cattle grazing here in the PTR is rampant and the role of the trekkers is very dubious here. Most of the cattle farmers whose buffaloes enter the PTR are trekkers’ own men. EDC finds itself a bit of a dwarf before such a robust band of trekkers said sources.
