Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 12: The patrolling system in Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) is all set for a major overhaul. The reserve management has decided to do away with the existing system of random patrolling and introduce beat patrolling.

The reserve, spread over 840sqkm, has been divided into 20 beats. Each beat would have a patrolling team of five personnel. A forest guard would head each team.

There would be two additional teams, having 10 armed security personnel, as back-up. They would move in the field according to the need of the patrolling teams.

The VTR management has also decided to rope in services of 41 youths, who would be deputed in beats they are well-acquainted with. The youths would be paid Rs 4,000 every month. Their selection would be done after verification of their credentials.

“We will also be particular about physical parameters of youths to be selected for patrolling teams as each team would be in charge of over 40sqkm of the reserve,” VTR field director Santosh Tiwari told The Telegraph over phone. A proposal for the funds required for paying the monthly stipend of the selected locals would be tabled in the me-eting of the environment and forests department on September 13, Tiwari said.

“We will demand just Rs 8 lakh between September 15 and March 31 from state funds for this financial year. From the next fiscal, this expense would become a part of the annual plan of operation itself,” added the VTR director. VTR officials are working out details of the routes the patrolling teams would follow. The range office would decide on the route a team of a given beat would follow on a given day.

The new plan also entails a new role for tiger trackers, who till now were used for patrolling as well. Under the new system, they would not be engaged in patrolling-related work. The tiger trackers would have to provide a daily report, in a special format developed by the VTR management, to the range office. Based on their inputs, the patrolling teams would be sent to the field.

Earlier, there was no such system in place. Patrolling teams were sent to the field at random. It had not gone down well with the National Tiger Conservation Authority team, which had visited the reserve towards the end of 2010. The team had mentioned this in its evaluation report.

The VTR management has decided to keep a record of the trackers because some are suspected to be hand-in-glove with poachers and tree-fellers.