Staff crunch affecting Gautala tiger tracking: Maha official

The administration can give us cameras etc, but we dont have manpower to maintain the tigers record here, Satpute added.Honorary willdlife warden Kishor Pathak said he would take up the issue of vacant posts with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.He also said a road passing through Gautala sanctuary must be closed for vehicles at night.

The lack of manpower in Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district is hampering surveillance of a tiger that had reached from Tipeshwar in Vidarbha, over 400 kilometres from here, in March this year, forest officials said on Monday.

The tiger was the first one to be spotted in Gautala in 81 years, and had trudged in from Tipeshwar Wildlife Reserve located in Pandarkawada tehsil in Yavatmal district, officials had said at the time.

''The tiger first spotted in March has settled here and marked its territory. There is ample prey for it. We are making 125 watering holes and the administration has given a couple of tankers to fill them. The issue is lack of manpower to watch the movement of this tiger,'' Deputy Forest Officer Vijay Satpute told PTI.

''There are three ranges, namely Kannad, Nagad and Chalisgaon in Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary, of which Chalisgaon faces a staff crunch, as the posts of range forest officer, two guards etc are lying vacant. The range is vast and is spread over 6500 hectares. The administration can give us cameras etc, but we don't have manpower to maintain the tiger's record here,'' Satpute added.

Honorary willdlife warden Kishor Pathak said he would take up the issue of vacant posts with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

He also said a road passing through Gautala sanctuary must be closed for vehicles at night.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)