“They hit him with a stone, he’s bleeding!”

“They burnt down the forest division car, what will we do?!”

Armed with lathi (an extended stick), iron rods, gullel (catapult), and stones, not less than 700 villagers had surrounded practically 250 forest guards who had reached the Taurenga buffer space inside Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh to conduct an eviction drive, recounts IFS officer Varun Jain.

The forest officers workforce, led by Jain, had apparently gotten right into a heated argument with the group after it was discovered that roughly 200 hectares of forest land was “encroached”.

About 30,000 bushes had been axed and huts had been constructed on the land regardless of the alleged accused having everlasting settlements on income land. Jain evaluated the realm utilizing Google Earth imagery and GPS-tracking to seek out that it was a dense forest earlier than 2008 when a lot of bushes had been chopped.

The officer provides how on this previous yr, as many as 200 encroachers had been evicted and not less than 600 hectares of forest land was recovered.

We sat down with the 34-year-old to know what goes into working as a forest officer.

The place tigers had been killed for enjoyable

Hailing from Jaipur, Rajasthan, Jain pursued civil engineering at IIT-Roorkee and cracked the UPSC examination to grow to be an IFS officer in 2017. After two years of coaching, he was allotted the Chhattisgarh cadre, and in February 2022, he joined Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve as a deputy director.

Sharing its boundary with Odisha, the Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve is thought for its wealthy vegetation and forest cowl of sal, teak, and bamboo bushes. It’s also house to a various fauna, together with leopards, wild buffaloes, tigers, hyenas, elephants, bears, pangolins, and extra.

After becoming a member of the tiger reserve, Jain noticed a lack of expertise of wildlife and forest conservation among the many native individuals. “As the realm is Naxal-affected, forest officers would worry going for patrolling. This patrolling hole led to a rise in encroachment and poaching instances. Individuals would minimize down bushes to construct their institutions in animal habitats whereas poachers fanned the unlawful wildlife commerce,” he tells The Higher India.

However this irresponsible behaviour was not new, he provides. Jain factors out that in the course of the British Raj and the Zamindari interval after Independence, the Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve was used as a sport reserve.

“Again then, anybody may shoot animals after paying a small price. As an illustration, you possibly can shoot a tiger paying Rs 25, and wild buffalo, which is the state animal, with Rs 100. This continued until 1972,” he informs.

“That is the explanation why we now have such low numbers of tigers. Presently, we now have only one tiger. This makes our tiger reserve completely different from the Kanha, Ranthambore, or Pilibhit tiger reserves. Due to the encroachment, we weren’t in a position to progress eco-tourism within the area. Only a yr again, we didn’t even have any gypsy safaris,” he provides.

From evicting encroachers to welcoming wildlife

Throughout discipline visits to the forest, Jain would typically see massive charred spots. “I came upon that big 100-year-old bushes had been burnt right down to make huts and farmland. Instantly, I procured ISRO pictures from 2008, 2010, and 2012, after which, I performed surveys utilizing drones to evaluate the encroachment. After evaluating each the photographs, we came upon that the reserve was a dense forest till 2008. Now, it has been decreased to an open forest land,” he explains.

In 2006, the Forest Rights Act was enacted and it acknowledged that any member or group that primarily resided in forest land for bona fide livelihood wants earlier than 13 December, 2005, could be entitled to forest rights. “Utilizing the ISRO pictures, we understood that these individuals settled right here after that interval,” he informs.

Throughout this era, Jain informs that the forest cowl decreased from 400 bushes per hectare to 40 bushes per hectare. “It was essential to do away with encroachments,” he provides.

So, the forest division issued notices to the dwellers looking for their paperwork in assist of possessing the forest land. However when they didn’t cooperate, the officers requested them to vacate.

“However carrying eviction drives on this explicit space was a giant problem for us. Our groups had been attacked twice resulting in accidents. My automotive was burnt down. It was heartbreaking for me to see my very own individuals being crushed,” he recollects.

“To handle this case, I introduced on a loudspeaker that since they injured forest officers, the police would ebook the lots,” he provides.

“The gathered mob had requested the ladies and the kids of their group to face earlier than us. To keep away from any hassles or misplaced blame, we had a power of feminine forest rangers on the sidelines too. There have been even makes an attempt to offer this complete incident a communal angle,” he informs.

In the meantime, the dwellers went on to file petitions on the Nationwide Fee for Scheduled Tribes, the State Fee for Scheduled Tribes, and the Chhattisgarh Excessive Court docket in opposition to the Forest Division. “However the judgement was handed in our favour as we had all of the proof,” he provides.

In its order dated 20 June, 2023, the excessive court docket disposed of the writ petition of the “encroachers” and talked about that the respondents are “free to take acceptable steps in accordance with the foundations”. 

One other order dated 12 December, 2023, by the Chhattisgarh Forest and Local weather Change Division talked about that with ISRO pictures, it was evident that the forest land was encroached after 2005 and the documentation of petitioners doesn’t assist their claims on the land.

Jain informs that the forest official performed the primary eviction continuing in January 2023. And to date, not less than 600 acres of forest land have been restored.

“This has additionally helped us construct belief amongst different native villagers who’ve now grow to be our sources for sharing info on poaching-related incidences. Inside 9 months, we had been in a position to conduct 32 operations the place we arrested 134 poachers and smugglers. With decreased poaching and encroachment instances, we consider tigers from neighbouring states will discover protected shelter and repopulate the reserve,” he provides.

Personally, this work has additionally introduced immense contentment to Jain. “Earlier than changing into an IFS officer, I wanted to hitch the Delhi police power however I missed it by seven marks. This challenge made me do comparable investigation work — from utilizing the cyber cell to monitoring name information and encroaching actions. I don’t remorse my determination anymore,” he says.

“In India, an official uniform has been given to solely three models — the Military, the police, and the forest officers. The aim of this uniform is to supply safety. It’s our responsibility to guard our pure heritage. Anybody can plant bushes. However as a forest official, if we can not save a tree, then what’s the level of latest afforestation drives?” remarks Jain.

Edited by Padmashree Pande. All pictures: IFS Varun Jain.

Sources:

Villagers assault forest personnel clearing encroachments in Chhattisgarh tiger reserve; three damage: Printed in The Telegraph on-line on 2 June 2023.

HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR Writ Petition (C) No.2700 of 2023.

The Chhattisgarh Forest and Local weather Change Division order dated 12 December 2023.