NTCA official bats for ecotourism hub at Kechki

Daltonganj: The director of the Assam regional centre of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Ravi Kiran Gowarker has asked the Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) officials to prepare a proposal to start eco-tourism at Kechki. Gowarker was at PTR on a two-day visit beginning June 30.
Gowarker is understood to have told PTR officials that Kechki had immense potential for becoming a hub of eco tourism.The regional centre of NTCA, Assam, takes care of PTR. Sources said Kechki has reasons to be upgraded for eco tourism since it is rich in flora and fauna.
First there is the confluence of Amanat and Koyal rivers here. Secondly, there are rocks on the river beds which make the two rain-fed rivers extremely turbulent during the monsoon. The PTR has a rest house and Kechki is on the nation's railway map, too.
PTR conservators Anil K Mishra and Premjit Anand said the Assam-based NTCA official found the PTR plagued with acute shortage of staff. He also acknowledged the threat posed by Left wing extremists operat6ing in the area. Gowarker was told how a female elephant died of gun shot wounds at PTR recently. The two PTR officials also told the NTCA official how until recently the CRPF used the PTR ground and some of its buildings as camps for its personnel who were deployed in the area for anti-Maoist operations.
Sources said the NTCA official, who is also an assistant inspector general (wildlife), reviewed the Centrally funded schemes at PTR with regard to quality, progress and durability. The main schemes which are funded by the Union government are road repairs, grass land management, fire management, water conservancy etc, the sources added.
Gowarker is understood to have expressed his resentment over Jharkhand government's dilly dallying attitude in setting up a Tiger Foundation, granting approval to Tiger Conservancy Plan and failing to issue a notification for the buffer zone of PTR.
Sources said the NTCA official was told of the teething troubles in relocating/resettlement of four villages that come under PTR. The residents of these four villages -- Meral, Jaigeer, Kujrum, Aadhey -- are in conflict with each other over the relocation issue for which even the basic task like planning is yet to be carried out.