Solar-tech to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in Katarniaghat

PILIBHIT: In a bid to curb rising human-wildlife conflicts, villages bordering the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KGWLS) — part of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve — will soon be equipped with solar-powered street lights with an aim to deter elephants, tigers and leopards from straying into human settlements.Divisional forest officer Apoorv Dixit said the project will be launched by Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) model. “A letter of intent was presented for installing 1,500 street lights to UP forest minister Dr Arun Kumar Saxena on June 15 and now it has been forwarded to sanctuary authorities for implementing the plan on ground zero,” he said.Field director of DTR, H Rajamohan, said the absence of electrification on streets and houses and erratic power supply has emerged as a major crisis in these villages.

“Unlike Pilibhit tiger reserve, over 60 villages lie within 5km of the sanctuary’s core peripheries, while 12 are located inside it. The solar lighting project is expected to ease the crisis to some extent,” he said.Wildlife Trust of India’s conflict mitigation head, Dr Abhishek Ghoshal, said some sensitive villages in the region which could possibly be considered solar street lighting include Girdharpur, Semari Ghatahi, Gulhana, Bojhiya, Murtiha in Dharmapur forest range, as well as Azamgarh Purwa and Ayodhyapurva village under Nishangarh and Sujauli forest range circles respectively.

The DFO added that the selection of beneficiary villages was yet to be finalised, but the lighting work was expected to be concluded by Oct this year. “Signify will bear the cost of the solar street lights and installation expenses, including their maintenance and periodic repairs,” he said.The urgency of the project is underscored by recent tragedies: on June 9, a nine-year-old girl was killed by a leopard in Tapra Bazar village, barely a km from Sujauli range. Earlier, on May 26, a 40-year-old woman was mauled to death by a tiger near Murtiah forest range.