Dabguli 2012 – Preventing plastic pollution and Alcohol consumption at the source
A few things that were observed by KANS during the Jatre of 2011 were:
- The major problem seems to be alcohol consumption
- The major chunk of pollution are the food plates and the vendors selling plastic bags/cups
This year around KANS invited Green Commandos to prevent the plastic entering the forests by scanning for any plastic items on the people visiting the festival and replacing them by paper bags sourced by Green Commandos.
Pre-festival announcement – 28th Jan 2012
Hand-bill distribution
Hand-bill distribution
Handbills written in Tamil and Kannada were circulated in all the villages (around 40 villages were covered) surrounding Dabguli by KANS volunteers and FD staff.
Public announcement
Announcements were also made via the public announcement system warning people that plastic must not be used within the forests; Alcohol and such items will be confiscated at the check-post; Felling of trees is prohibited and Entry from the checkpost after 6pm will be restricted due to elephant movement.
On the festival at Dabguli – 4th Feb 2012
The KANS was divided into 3 teams one at the Balagadapallam checkpost, one at Kestur checkpost and the rest at the temple.
Check-post : Regulation of plastic and Alcohol
Plastic and alcohol monitoring at the Kestur checkpost
Confiscated Alcohol
Confiscated Plastic items
KANS together with the FD confiscated all alcohol and plastic items at the checkposts. The teams stayed until 10pm in the night and a total of 240 liquor items were confiscated and several Kgs of plastic items in the form of bags, coverings, cups were confiscated. The Vendors were compensated by providing paper bags replacing plastic bags and paper cups replacing plastic cups.
The people were generally supportive of the initiative to disallow plastic usage within the forests. However the vendors who were to set up shops and people who turned up with liquor provided some resistance parting with the items.
Plastic control at the temple
Banner being put up near the pit
The team stationed at the temple area put up several banners discouraging people on the plastic usage and indicating the general direction of the dugout pit to dispose the areca leaf food plates.
Distribution of baskets for waste collection
Several waste baskets were provided to the shop keepers to dump the paper and bio-degradable waste generated.
Exchange of plastic items with paper cups and bags
Volunteers who toured the entire area took away any plastic cups/bags from the vendors and replaced them with equal quantity of paper cups and bags sourced by KANS. However the waste generated by packaged material in form of chips etc., could not be controlled.
FD patrolling the temple area
Local police and Forest Department staff further made a note of the vendors selling items in plastic despite the prior announcement and gave a stern warning. They also patrolled regularly keeping a lookout for illegal activities and alcohol consumption.
By night fall the crowd had swelled to unmanageable proportions and plastic cups and bags were seen strewn around.
Post festival clean-up – 5th Feb 2012
Volunteers cleaning up the temple area
Cauvery banks and temple area after the festival
The following evening of the 2nd day the last of the crowd had left and the shops were packed. All the banners were stolen and the lone pit overflowed with the leaf plates. The amount of waste in the form of plates, discarded food , paper and plastic waste was phenomenal. The volunteers who started early by afternoon could only finish 1/5th of the debris.
With lack of transport to take away the plastic waste and clear the remaining place, the committee was again reminded to clear the place by themselves.
Overall the Dabguli 2012 event went smoothly and was a great success. Almost 80% of plastic and alcohol control was achieved. The 25 volunteers who participated the event coming from Chennai, Coimbatore, Hosur and Bangalore did a tremendous job!
Elephant Proof Trench Awareness
KANS is organising a socio-economic survey of the villages that lie on the forest boundaries. Elephant proof trenches which will be cut in the vicinity of these villages are being opposed by villagers because their access to forests will be curtailed. KANS proposes to understand their dependance on forest resources and help them find viable alternatives.
Plastic pollution control at Dabguli, Urigam forest range
Dabguli belongs to the Urigam range in Hosur Reserve forest under the Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. Situated on the banks of the river Cauvery surrounded by hills on the one side from Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary a haven for the wild animals, especially the elephants that descends down to quench their thirst.
A temple dedicated to Basava stands on a bare hillock in Dabguli. This temple sees a trickle of devotees descending down throughout the year. Every once a year around the time of Shivaratri a gathering of 15-20 thousand people swarm this once peaceful region to be a part of the Jathre organized by the surrounding villages for 2 days.
Medical Camp – 1
The village of Kodakerai lies at the border of the dense Gutherayan forests. The inhabitants have to travel (mostly by walk) more than 20 kms to reach the nearest medical facility. In order to secure the support of the villagers to conserve the forest, KANS conducted a medical camp where free medical check-up was done on more than 250 villagers, including women and children, and medicines were distributed to them.
On occassion of its first anniversary and to celebrate the Wildlife Week, KANS conducted another medical camp, this time for the staff of the Hosur forest division. The camp was inaugurated by Mr. TNA Perumal, world reknowned photographer and environmentalist and Honorary member of KANS. Free check-up was done for more than 40 staff members and their families.
Roadkills awareness campaign
Many protected areas are crisscrossed by busy roads, that carry hundreds of vehicles a day. Road accidents have emerged as one of the threats facing the already endangered wildlife. KANS has taken up couple of initiatives at the Bandipur National Park and Rajiv Gandhi National Park, to reduce this risk.
Roads, railways and other infrastructure projects have emerged as one of the major threats to wildlife. Between 2003 and 2007, the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka saw the death of 89 mammals, 73 birds and 53 snakes on the National Highway. Similar incidents occur regularly in Forested areas across the country that have roads cutting through them. Apart from roadkills, the other threats are habitat fragmentation and changes in animal behaviour.
Safari Visitors Awareness campaign – Nagarhole
Every time we take a safari ride in a Protected Area (PA), we expect to see the elusive tiger. What we don’t realize is that tigers are solitary and nocturnal in nature and hence sighting them on safari rides is extremely difficult. This holds good for other predators too. Secondly, since these are ‘wild’ animals, by natural instinct they avoid humans. Also, PAs like National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries are spread across several hundred sq. kms. of forest and animals are widely spread through the entire PA, and that clearly explains that wildlife sightings are just a matter of luck and nothing else.
KANS initiated an awareness programme to educate the visitors to the PAs. This programme was conducted at the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole) National Park in association with Wildlife Conservation Society, India Chapter
