Monday, 20 May 2013

Tamhini is newest sanctuary in Maharashtra

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN May 20, 2013
NAGPUR: The state government on Friday completed protected areas' (PAs) half century by notifying Tamhini Wildlife Sanctuary in Pune and Thane districts.

The 49.62 sq km Tamhini has been carved out by taking 12 compartments of reserved forest from Paund and Sinhgad ranges in Pune forest division while 8 compartments belong to Mangaon range in Roha division in Thane.

Located 65km west of Pune, Tamhini is a hilly place near Mulshi dam. The area is blessed with waterfalls, verdant valleys and lush evergreen forests. The temple dedicated to Vinzai Devi and the beautiful Devrai (sacred grove) full of some interesting flora adds to the charm of the place. The forests are rich with bird life, including insects and endemic Indian Giant Squirrel.

"Considering its ecological, faunal and floral significance the government decided to declare Tamhini a sanctuary. The area will help protect, propagate and develop wildlife therein and its environment," said Praveen Pardeshi, principal secretary (forests).

Since November 2010, the government has notified five wildlife sanctuaries viz Mansinghdeo (183 sq km), New Bor (61 sq km), New Nagzira (152 sq km), Navegaon (123 sq km) and Umred-Karhandla (189 sq km) and a conservation reserve for endangered wild buffaloes in Kolamarka (189 sq km) in Gadchiroli.

The Maharashtra Government denotified 8,496.44 sq km GIB sanctuary at Nanaj in Solapur to 1,222.61 sq km. Due to this decision, there was drastic decrease in the area under PA network in the state from 4.97% to 2.6% i.e. from 15,332.49 sq km to 8,058.66 sq km, a sharp drop by 60.55%.

Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-20/nagpur/39392290_1_gib-sanctuary-nanaj-mansinghdeo

No comments:

Post a Comment