A forest training institute was part of the Rs 10,000 crore 'Vidarbha Package' announced by then chief minister Ashok Chavan in Nagpur in 2009. The tribal department is ready to give Rs 50 crore for the project but formal proposal has not been sent by the officials.
The institute in Sangli, stone-laying for which will be performed by Kadam himself on Saturday, will be the sixth after Chandrapur and Chikhaldara (Vidarbha), Shahapur (Thane), Pal (North Maharashtra) and Jalna (Marathwada). Top forest officials including forest secretary S J Kunte, head of forest force (HoFF) A K Joshi and PCCF (wildlife) D C Pant have reached Kundal.
The Rs 12.49 crore project has been approved by the government and all necessary clearances have been sought under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980. Government has also released Rs 1.50 crore this year. The institute will have training facilities for forest guards, foresters, accountants, and clerks. It will have hostels, mess, hospital, quarters, ground, godown, watch tower, cultural hall, administrative building etc.
There are 1,053 RFOs, 2,553 foresters, and 8,771 forest guards in the state. The existing five institutes give training to only 400-500 staffers every year. The new institute will help clear the training backlog of 2200 forest guards at present. Kadam says institute will be a boon for recruits from western Maharashtra. So far, the field staff from here had to travel to Vidarbha for training.
Conservationists flayed the apathetic attitude of the officials in Vidarbha, who are allowing to pass on the benefits to Western Maharashtra at the cost of Vidarbha. "It is really a pity that 60% of the forest is in Vidarbha, but an institute is being set up in Western Maharashtra," said Satish Bhide of 'Aranya'.
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