Conservationists in the buffer zone of the Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) have demanded the latter administration to provide insurance and other facilities.

The PWR administration’s apathy towards their problems have discouraged the conservationists, they said. Representatives of Sunakhari Consumer’s Committee said they have been conserving forest and guarding wild animals for a last decade.

“There’s no health facility and insurance for us. We have been routinely facing threats and attacks from smugglers,” said Chairman of the committee Devi Prasad Dahal.

Conservationists are protecting the human settlement in the buffer zone. They are involved in returning animals inside the forest if they stray into the settlement. Former chairman of the committee Bhim Bahadur Pakhrin said they have arrested 10-15 smugglers each year. “We enter the forests even in the night for the cause of conserving wild animals.

Meanwhile, Chief Conservation Officer Yubaraj Regmi admitted that the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation has not provided insurance and other facilities to the representatives of consumer’s committees in the buffer zone. “We have been providing compensation if the wild animals destroy crops or kill people,” said Regmi, adding that the demands of the conservationists are genuine.

10 CCTV cameras installed in CNP

BHARATPUR: The Chitwan National Park (CNP) has installed CCTV cameras in the most sensitive areas of the park to control poaching and other illegal activities. Park officials said 10 CCTV cameras have been installed between Kasara and Rapti in Nawalparasi and some places of Narayani River. Chief Conservation Officer Ram Chandra Kandel said people are involved in hunting, smuggling timbers, extracting sand and using electricity to catch fish in the rivers. “Now, CCTV cameras will help us control illegal activities. We will immediately take action against the guilty,” he said.