Rourkela: The Sundergarh forest division is creating camps, known as protection camps, inside the forests for effective management of the natural wealth.

"We are creating these camps to deal with various problems and in future we will increase their numbers. We have problems of poaching, timber smuggling, forest fire and water crisis. Such camps will help us in a big way," said divisional forest officer Sundargarh Arun Mishra.

"Sundergarh is a big range. There is trans-border movement of animals and we have to tackle the poachers and smugglers sneaking in from across the border," he said. The forest camps will be managed by the department officials along with volunteers from local villages inside and nearer to the jungles. These camps will be helped by the Vana Surakshya Samiti.

"The team will stay there with all provisions for a week and then it will be replaced with another team. The teams will remain connected with each other," said Mishra. "Each team will have a 10sqkm under its jurisdiction and they will look for poachers, fire, water and probable timber smuggling. Role of local residents is important in all these areas as they are our eyes and ears in all these issues," said Mishra. Three such camps have been planned in the first phase and would be functional in the coming days. These camps would be set up under the Lefripara range and then would be extended to other ranges.

Mishra said: "So far we have we have spotted 12 leopards under our division, and mostly in Lefripara range. A female Royal Bengal Tiger has also been spotted."