25 thousand plants have been planted on the mountain of Masania

Raipur: To see how MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is playing an important role in saving the natural resources, ecosystem, and water, forest and land, it is enjoyable to see the bears playing among the trees grown on the mountain of Masania. The scene should be interviewed. With the convergence of the schemes of the MNREGA and the Forest Department, not only the mountain has been covered with trees, but several check-dams have also been made for water conservation.

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This is a unique example of strengthening the coexistence of humans and wildlife with human efforts. Work on MNREGA and forest department in Masania mountain and its vicinity. Until a few years ago, there was no trace of greenery on the Masania mountain adjacent to the village of Masniakala and Masniakhurd of Sakti development block in the Janjgir-Champa district.

The villagers discussed among themselves and planned to preserve the bears in the mountain and forest. It was considered to plant saplings in the Masniakala Gram Panchayat and the dependent village of Masniakhurd so that the bears get food in the forest itself and do not come towards the village. For this, due to convergence of schemes of MNREGA and Forest Department, the way of planting trees on the mountain was taken out. In the year 2017-18, the plan for the next five years was prepared and implemented. Mixed plants were planted on about 25 acres of land, which included 25 thousand saplings of teak, doom, khamhar, berries, mangoes, bamboo, shishu, arjuna, casiacemia and plum. After sanctioning 29 lakh 38 thousand rupees from MNREGA for this work, the workers started their work by planting saplings on the inaccessible Masania hill. This work was difficult because he could not stay alive for a long time due to lack of water after planting. With the convergence of MNREGA and forest department, about one million rupees have been approved for ground water conservation. With this amount, the Brushwood Checkdem, Gadkar Checkdem, Boulder Checkdeck and Contour Trench were built. Workers kept the plants safe by continuously watering and fencing the plants.

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With good care, the plants began to sway like trees in two years. There a total of 25 thousand saplings were planted, including 8015 teak plants, 2975 doomers, 1815 khamars, 2445 berries, 2075 mangoes, 1425 bamboo ones, 1245 seshu, 1275 arjuna, three thousand casiacemia and 730 berries. . The laborers irrigated these plants through Kanwar and diesel pumps. Fencing was done 716 m from cement pole channellink for plant safety. This five-year action plan has also created a total of 7851 man-days of direct employment in plantation in the first year and plantation and protection of plants in the subsequent three years. For this, the workers have been paid wages of about 14 lakh rupees. There they grew well due to the abundant water supply of plants from the brushwood checkdams, Gadkar checkdams, boulder checkdecks and contour trenches built from the MNREGA convergence. Now trees from 10 to 12 feet have started appearing there. With the protection of ground water, now the bears are getting water on the hill itself.

Bear habitat and pasture development from Jamwant project: Rs 48 lakh was approved in the last financial year to develop the area under Jamwant project from State Campa head. With this amount, ponds and dabris have been built for the development of water resources there. 13 thousand 200 saplings have been planted for bear habitat and pasture development. These include ber, berries, chota karonda, vine, sycamore, banyan, peepal, satavar, kevakand, wild turmeric and sweet potato plant. Termites are very dear to bears. Hence termite siphintag (useful for bears) has also been established in the area. Premlanta Yadav, a forest officer, says that the balance of nature is maintained only by saving water, forest and land. In the direction of MNREGA and Forest Department, important work has been done in this direction in Masania Hills. Plantation and water harvesting on the mountain make wildlife, especially bears, feel safe.

Coexistence rather than human-bear duality: Sanjay Kumar Patel, sarpanch of Masaniakala, explains that the color of this area has changed since the plantation. With the joint work of the MNREGA and the forest department, the conflict between humans and bears is now over and they are living together without harming each other from the feeling of co-existence. Fruit and shady trees have not only covered the mountain with a sheet of greenery, but also provided protection to the bears. A bear friend team has been formed in the village so that the bears are not harmed by anyone. Bhagwati Patel, a member of this party, tells that bears are coming and going in the village, but there is no problem. Bears are often seen near trees under the mountain of Masania.

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Desperate from trees and plants, there was a lack of food and drink on this hill, then bears and other wildlife came to the village. As a result, bears and villagers started to come face to face, again and again, sometimes the bears were injured. Due to hunger, bears also started harming crops. Due to this, fear began to prevail among the villagers and they started looking for a way to get rid of this problem.