Mussoorie, May, 14
Forest officials blame villagers for the recent spread of forest fires in Uttarakhand causing devastation in large areas.

However, the role played by the people of Uttarakhand in conserving, protecting and nurturing the forests can’t be questioned. Hundreds of sacred groves are protected by the people as a matter of faith.

The death of nine persons while trying to douse forest fires in the past month point to the efforts of the common man to protect their forests.

In Garhwal and Kumaon numerous large and small patches of forests are protected and preserved as “sacred groves” by communities. Villagers, through “divine sanction” are stopped from harming any vegetation in these groves. Such groves have been thriving since centuries.

These sacred groves vary from a few trees, a few square yards to several square kilometres. Most notable are the Hariyali Devi grove in Rudraprayag (5.5 sq km), Shikhar in Bageshwar district (about 4 sq km), Binsar in Almora district (about 3 sq km) and Gagar in Nainital district.

It is popular belief that within these groves even axing a branch of a tree may invite the wrath of the deity.

“This is a form of religious sanction which discourages any form of cutting or lopping of trees within these sacred spaces,” explains Tarun Joshi, an environmentalist. Says Dr AP Singh, associate professor at the National Institute for Administrative Research (NIAR), Mussoorie: “The sacred groves are a method adopted by local communities to accord protection to ecosystems by invoking divine sanction to prevent violation of norms.”

He believes that “the communities of Uttarakhand, with their wealth of empirical knowledge gained through experience, have been using religion as a tool to protect and preserve critical ecosystems by designating these as sacred.” Studies show that in sacred spaces like Hariyali Devi, 32 km from Gauchar, the lopping, felling, grazing, collection of grass or medicinal plants or any other kind of human interference within the sacred grove is prohibited.

Notably, the entire area designated as “sacred” in Hariyali falls in the reserve forest area. This weakens the claims of the forest department that the communities of Uttarakhand do not protect reserve forests. Similarly, near the Jageshwar Temple in Almora, an area around the temple has been designated as sacred and since generations no cutting or lopping of trees is allowed here. Dense deodar forests thrive in the area.

“Village communities have wisely used religion as a tool to draw a protective ring around the forests with the objective of protecting/preserving critical ecosystems,” says Joshi.

He informs that although the concept of sacred groves is ancient and some sacred groves are centuries old, the people of Uttarakhand have come forward and reinitiated this practice.

He informs that the practice of dedicating forests to a deity in the Chowkhuri and Dharamgarh areas of Kumaon was initiated in early 1990. Forest areas adjoining villages were demarcated as sacred and cordoned off so that there was no human intrusion into those areas.

Interestingly, the entire village community may decide at a meeting to dedicate their forests to a deity. This is usually done in case of degraded areas facing severe ecological 
pressures.

At these meetings, the time period is decided (generally between 5 and 10 years) depending on the period needed for regeneration of the forest area.

The communities retain some patches to meet their requirements and on a designated date they visit the temple of a nearby deity and submit a letter of intent to the deity.

Even more interesting, some villages use a revenue stamp. The letter mentions the area to be dedicated and the period of dedication. The document is signed by all members of the village. Subsequently, flags and steamers are brought from the temple to mark the boundary of the area. “We have observed that there is zero violation of norms by villagers as everyone is god-fearing,” observes Laxman Singh Dhami, a sarpanch.

“Such initiatives help support the natural regeneration process in these areas and within a span of eight years the area is once again replete with dense vegetation,” adds Dhami.

Once the period of dedication is over, the villagers again visit the temple and “take back” their forests from the deity which are then used as per the rules and regulations decided by the gram sabha.

“This concept is fast spreading to other areas. In Nakuri and Gangolihaat area alone more than 100 gram panchayats recently dedicated their Van Panchayat/or civil soyam lands to local deities,” says Joshi.

Forest officials of Uttarakhand seem oblivious of such practices otherwise they would not blame the traditionally conservationist communities of Uttarakhand for causing forest fires.

The department may well take a leaf out of the book on people’s history and in order to deal with forest fires more efficiently look for similar divine support.

Dehradun, May 14
While man-eater leopards have struck terror in Uttarakhand, Lakhpat Singh Rawat continues to provide succour to terrified villagers by hunting these down, that too without any honorarium and despite risk to his life.

A Gairsen resident in far-flung Chamoli Garhwal district, Lakhpat Singh Rawat has to his credit 23 successful kills, hunting down man-eating leopards in almost all forest divisions of Uttarakhand.

He killed a man-eater at Ringalgarh Raipur in Dehradun on Wednesday evening, his 23 success.

It all started in 2002, when Lakhpat, a schoolteacher, was moved by the death of 12 children by a leopard in Adibadri, Chamoli. After killing the beast, Lakpat became a regular in hunting down man-eaters across the state.

His skill with the .315 bore rifle coupled with his knowledge of man-eaters prompted the Uttarakhand forest department to seek his services, whenever a leopard was categorised a man-eater.

Shooting down a man-eater in Uttarkashi on January 14, 2004, has been his toughest hunt so far. It took as many as 14 days and patrolling of 40 sq kilometre of forest area before the beast could be spotted and done to death.

This man-eater had struck terror in the region, mauling five children. Lakhpat had a narrow escape while shooting down a female leopard in Champawat in 2006.

The injured leopard was barely at a distance of 5 metres from Lakhpat when he shot her. Lakhpat, who killed six man-eaters in 2007, has shot five so far
this year. He has two sons, one of them is serving with the Air Force.

Dehradun, May 14
The forest authorities managed to shoot down the man-eater leopard that had struck terror in Raipur area of Dehradun.

Hunter Lakpat Singh Rawat tracked down the man-eater to Ringalgarh area of Raipur and killed him with a single shot on Wednesday evening.

This female leopard was three- and-a-half-year-old and had killed two children in Raipur area of the Mussoorie forest division. The prowling leopard had also killed a girl on November 28 last and a boy on April 21. AK Bannerji, DFO, was present at the site when the wild cat was killed.

The hunter was accompanied by Gangandeep and other forest officials. 

Dehradun, May 14
A woman was allegedly raped in forest area falling under the jurisdiction of Raipur police station on Tuesday night.

The incident came to light yesterday evening.

According to the residents of the Sunderwala village, the victim, who was naked and in an inebriated state, entered a home and asked for help in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The villagers claimed that the condition of the victim suggested that she was raped.

According to the Raipur police station officials, the victim has been identified as a resident of Ballupur Chowk.

“The victim knocked at the door of Manoj’s house in the wee hours. When he opened the door, Manoj saw the woman was naked and looked intoxicated.

“He informed his neighbours and provided her clothes. Thereafter, he took her to Raipur police station,” said the policemen.

Raipur SHO Amarjeet said the woman was either mentally unsound or was intoxicated.

The police informed her parents who took her home. SI Amarjeet added that neither the woman complained of rape nor her family members.

Her family took her home and told the police that she was mentally unsound.

Sunderwala villagers, however, said that the woman had been raped.

Her clothes were also found from a deserted place.

The villagers were of the view that the woman might have been first given an intoxicating substance and then raped.

As the victim did not register any complaint with the police, she was not subjected to medical examination.