Jamshedpur: The East Singhbhum district administration and forest officials of Dhalbhum and Seraiklea heaved a sigh of relief on the relatively peaceful culmination of the Sendra festival.
The motely groups of tribal who climbed up the Dalma forest on the night of Sunday in pursuit of celebrating the Sendra festival have not killed any animal, claimed the forest officials.
The forest officials have maintained that about 200 odd tribals including women members scaled Dalma forest to celebrate the traditional Buru Sendra festival but during the course of their stay they desisted from hunting wild animals.
“The awareness campaign that was carried out by forest department in association with eco club mmebers of the 80 odd villages that fall within the Dalma forest area has paid off. On record I can say not a single animal has been hunted by the tribals,” asserted, a forest officer.
He added that from Sunday evening the forest department officials along with the handful of NGO personnel and Eco club members camped at all routes linking to Dalma hilltop and pursuded the potential hunters to desist from indulging in any kind of activities that might disturb the ecology of the green surrouding.
Strict vigil of the reserve by the Ranchi wildlife division prevented the hunters from killing animals. Forest staff and trackers members of eco development committees scanned the sanctuary in groups under supervision of senior officials, including the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), Jharkhand, D K Srivastav.
“There’s no report of any animal getting killed,” claimed an official. He added they had identified 12 sensitive zones and maintained a strict vigil on them. “We also got enough help from the villagers residing inside the sanctuary. Our awareness campaign against animal killing during Sendra also helped ,” he said.