Maha:Skill training to youth living near Melghat tiger reserve

The Maharashtra forest departmenthas imparted skill development training to over 200 youth from25 villages located near Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati tohelp them get jobs and have a sustainable livelihood, anofficial said.

Tribal communities living in buffer and core areas ofsuch tiger reserves are directly or indirectly dependent onforests and forest products, Melghat tiger reserve's fielddirector M S Reddy told PTI on Saturday.

Due to infrastructural limitations and location ofthese villages in remote areas poses a challenge in providingskilled education to youth, he said, adding poverty in suchareas also leads to higher rate of drop-outs from schools.

''This leads to unemployment among locals, which is thegreatest bane of these forests. Unemployment among thesepeople also affects the forest ecosystem through variousanthropogenicactivities,'' he said.

To overcome these challenges and reduce theirdependency on forests, the Melghat Tiger ConservationFoundationhas set up three computer centres in Harisal,Chikhaldara and Vastapur villages of Amravati district.

As many as 224 youth from 25 villages with have beenimparted training in information technology at these centresand awarded certificates, Reddy said.

''Providing sustainable livelihood to local communitiesis an important initiative for the conservation of forestsand wildlife,'' the official said.

The Melghat tiger reserve is among the first ninereserves created in the country under the Project TigerMission, he said.

Spread over 2,768 sq km area in four wildlifedivisions, the reserve includes a critical tiger habitat/corearea 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 pera report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

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