Baripada, March 27: Similipal Tiger Reserve authorities will begin e-patrolling inside the sanctuary area from April 1.

This is the first time that such an initiative has been taken up in the tiger reserve to ensure security of flora and fauna and monitor the anti-poaching activities.

Deputy director of the tiger reserve Ajit Satpathy said: "For the first time, the e-tracking tool will be introduced in the sanctuary. This is to ensure that the patrolling staff members are doing their jobs regularly."

"Besides, the images captured in the camera traps would give us an exact idea of the location in case of any fire mishaps in the sanctuary. The required assistance can then be rushed to the locations without much loss of time," he said.

These gadgets will be effective in combating threats to the wildlife and their habitat, said wildlife expert Bhanumitra Acharya.

Under the system, each patrolling group head will be given a global positioning system-enabled android phone set, through which the position of the patrolling guards will be known to the base station.

The patrolling parties can also send images with the help of their phones.

On an experimental basis, the e-patrolling would be implemented by 30 anti-poaching camps, including those in the core and buffer regions. There are 63 and 31 anti-poaching camps in the core and buffer regions of the tiger reserve, respectively. Each camp has a patrolling squad consisting of one guard and six protection assistants.

To ensure security of 30 vulnerable patches, the anti-poaching squads have been trained how to use the e-tracking devices.

The patrolling personnel would switch on the device when they would move out for patrolling. The moment the device is switched on, its signal will be received by the master control centre.

The device will indicate the Global Positioning System co-ordinator, the patrolling personnel's movement area, apart from capturing the images of the sanctuary.

A Bangalore-based software company, which has experience in the particular field, has been entrusted with the networking system. About Rs 30 lakh will be spent on this project.

The company has done the same work for the Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka.