has imparted skill development training to over 200 youth from
25 villages located near Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati to
help them get jobs and have a sustainable livelihood, an
official said.
Tribal communities living in buffer and core areas of
such tiger reserves are directly or indirectly dependent on
forests and forest products, Melghat tiger reserve”s field
director M S Reddy told PTI on Saturday.
Due to infrastructural limitations and location of
these villages in remote areas poses a challenge in providing
skilled education to youth, he said, adding poverty in such
areas also leads to higher rate of drop-outs from schools.
“This leads to unemployment among locals, which is the
greatest bane of these forests. Unemployment among these
people also affects the forest ecosystem through various
anthropogenicactivities,” he said.
To overcome these challenges and reduce their
dependency on forests, the Melghat Tiger Conservation
Foundationhas set up three computer centres in Harisal,
Chikhaldara and Vastapur villages of Amravati district.
As many as 224 youth from 25 villages with have been
imparted training in information technology at these centres
and awarded certificates, Reddy said.
“Providing sustainable livelihood to local communities
is an important initiative for the conservation of forests
and wildlife,” the official said.
The Melghat tiger reserve is among the first nine
reserves created in the country under the Project Tiger
Mission, he said.
Spread over 2,768 sq km area in four wildlife
divisions, the reserve includes a critical tiger habitat/core
area of 1,500.5 sq km and a buffer zone of 1,268.3 sq km.
In 2018, the reserve comprised over 50 tigers, as per
a report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
PTI CLS
GK GK
Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI
