(Extreme right) Vivek Menon, regional director, South Asia, International Fund for Animal Welfare-Wildlife Trust of India, hands over a television set to C. Ramesh, divisional forest officer of Haltugaon forest division, in Baksa on Sunday. Telegraph picture

Kokrajhar, March 4: The International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) provided support to various stakeholders, including local villagers and the forest department, in an event today to strengthen conservation of Greater Manas.

The event also kickstarted a series of focused capacity-building training for the frontline staff in Manas under the Van Rakshak Project that has trained and equipped about 9,000 frontline employees across the country till today.

The support was given out under the Greater Manas Conservation Fund set up to ensure a holistic conservation of the landscape.

The beneficiaries included the Haltugaon forest division that was gifted equipment including a TV, a DVD player and a generator for use in awareness generation.

Green livelihood support was provided to villagers of Kumursali Pwther, Polodabi and Lonthibari villages in Chirang district which forms the west-end buffer to Manas tiger reserve. An ex gratia was also paid to the family of Benga Dwimari who lost his life in conflict with elephants in January this year.

Greater Manas is a critical wildlife habitat along the Indo-Bhutan border in Bodo region of Assam, supporting a wide range of wildlife, including the Asian elephant and the Royal Bengal tiger.

Adopted by the BTC government, the landscape extends over 1,500 square km covering Manas National Park, Manas reserve forest and Ripu-Chirang reserve forests.

“The forest department and the BTC assisted by communities, community-based organisations and NGOs like ours will need to continue the fight to protect Manas,” Vivek Menon, executive director, WTI and regional director South Asia, IFAW-WTI, said.

BTC deputy chief Kampa Borgoyary, said conservation of Greater Manas is not just about the wildlife but also about the people.

He said welfare of wildlife and human being interconnected, the greater Manas Conservation Fund takes a holistic view and supports activities that promotes well-being of people as well as animals.