Sanjeli (Dahod): In the forest of the Division of Baria, a tree and wildlife sleep at night knowing Rakesh Vankar is out there to protect them.
Meet the 36-year-old forest officer (RFO) in Sanjeli Range, persistent spirits that make pristine forests ‘free-free’.
Vankar’s mission is to ensure that the forest and land under his jurisdiction are clean, but also have danger.
During his mammoth tasks, Vankar survived the attack when the locals tried to hit him with a tractor in 2019.
“It was a difficult task, but we were determined,” Ranger told Toi.
Vankar was credited as the only individual Ranger in the state, which recovered almost 1,300 hectares’ defeat back to the forest by fighting on the road in the past two and a half years.
The land parcel is equivalent to half the VANSDA National Park (VNP) area.
What was covered in corn plants for years in Velpur Village was restored to its natural flora such as teak, whirlpool coral and even wildlife including leopards, wolves, hyenas, hedgehogs and blue bulls reclaim their habitat after it became a safe wildlife corridor.
“When I joined the assignment in March 2019 in Sanjeli, I found that the main forest land was being interrupted and I took it as my mission to eliminate encroachment.
Our team will go to the field at 6 am and return at midnight every day.
We will verify The right to land and if the land is found, we will soon work to free it, “Vankar said, who actually explored the main fraud forging the Rights Law (Sanad) document to claim their rights.
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“I suspect about the authenticity of several documents and we checked this with our division office where the claims rights were approved.
But no one was passed and we found 26 papers for falsified.
In many cases, they will try to change us by saying that They have filed land claims, but on verification will find it wrong.
This exercise helps recover forest land under protection, “Vankar said.
“But with the regeneration of forests, villagers get animal feed from meadows and are happy that forest cover has increased in their environment,” The Forester said, whose happiness was reflected in his eyes when he showed Flora and Fauna reclaiming his lost land in the village.
Fringe.
Speaking with Toi, the Deputy Forest Conservator, Division of Baria, Rakesh Parmar, “Ranges Forest Officer Rakesh Vankar, who felt a major pain to verify the record of land and eliminate valuable forest land from encroachment, has done extraordinary work in protecting forests and wildlife .
We appreciate their efforts.
“He further added that conservative estimates showed that Vankar played an important role in eliminating encroachment from almost 1,300 hectares of forest land.