Patna, Nov. 18: Deputy inspector-general (DIG) of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) S.S. Negi was bowled over by the dedicated patrolling team and the practice of maintaining daily record of observations made by it and tiger trackers at Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR).

“Deputing dedicated teams in patrolling work is a wise move. It would help in keeping tabs on all parts of the reserve,” Negi told The Telegraph over phone. He boarded a Delhi flight from the city yesterday after his visit to VTR.

Besides lauding the steps of the VTR management, the NTCA official gave a few suggestions for the betterment of the reserve. He asked the VTR officials to work in close co-ordination with Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), who collect information on animal sighting inside the reserve during the course of patrolling.

“I have suggested the VTR officials to talk to the SSB officials on this aspect. If they agree, a well-designed format should be provided to the SSB personnel so that they can document all incidents of animal sightings during patrolling duty. This input can be of great use in the management of the reserve,” Negi said. He also advised to form a group of daily wagers and other contractual employees of the reserve. It can provide different to visitors, he said.

Negi, while heading the Kanha National Park, had made a similar experiment by making a society of 700 employees there. It has a corpus fund of about Rs 3.5 crore at present. “To make things clear on this front, I will ask the director of Kanha National Park to make a detailed presentation of this experiment in the meeting of field directors of tiger reserves scheduled for January,” Negi said.

The NTCA DIG also asked the VTR officials to incorporate a point in the tiger conservation plan on giving limited right to local people like Tharus to collect naturally fallen tree branches from the buffer area of the reserve. Given the right, the residents would not feel suppressed by the provisions of the act prohibiting all such activities.

“We will try to get approval for this from the Centre. Tharus complain how their traditional association with the forest has been checked after declaration of the area as a tiger reserve,” said VTR director Santosh Tiwari. The tiger conservation plan is likely to be finalised in five months.