Efforts on to make Tiger Reserve plastic-free

Dornala(Prakasam district): To protect the Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve from the adversities of single-use plastic pollution and to prevent the wild animals from consuming plastic packaging material, the forest authorities from the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh took initiatives which are paying well.

The Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve covers about 5,500 square kilometre area and hosts about 100 tigers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Srisailam Devasthanam in the Kurnool district is in the NSTR zone and attracts lakhs of devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and other states in the country.

These devotees and the locals used to use single-use plastic bottles, carry bags, cups, plates, etc., and throw away the waste in the forest. Also, the wild animals used to feed on the food items thrown at them in the plastic packaging and covers and died in some instances.

Following the calls for intervention, the government formed a committee with forest officials, temple authorities and representatives from voluntary organisations in January 2024.

The committee headed by the conservator of forests at Nandyal, conducted a series of discussions and deliberations with the locals, officials and other stakeholders on the banning of single-use plastic articles.

With the staff from the forest department and Srisailam temple, they set up a mechanism to prevent plastic from entering the tiger reserve and made sure the local shops do not sell articles in plastic packaging or carry bags.

The forest staff started collecting the plastic water bottles, soft drink bottles, plastic carry bags, covers, cups, straws, spoons, etc., from the RTC buses and private vehicles at the check posts on the way to entering Nallamala forest. They are creating awareness on the effect of single-use plastic on Earth, particularly on the forest, birds and animals in the NSTR zone. They set up large plastic waste collection bins at various places along the road and started to collect the accumulated waste as part of cleaning the forest.

Markapur divisional forest officer (DFO) G Vignesh Appavu told The Hans India that the Srisailam temple which is in the NSTR zone attracts lakhs of devotees every year, and hundreds of tonnes of single-use plastic is being accumulated due to them.

He said that the committee formed by the government declared the NSTR as a single-use plastic-free zone, and banned the use and sale of plastic articles in the area.

He said that to reduce the use of plastic water bottles, the forest department has installed RO water plants at various places on the way to Srisailam, while the temple authorities also installed about 40 RO water systems in the temple vicinity.

He said that the shops also started to sell packaged water in glass bottles as in Tirumala. He said that they are receiving encouraging responses from the public to their awareness campaign.

He said that they witnessed the drastic reduction in accumulating plastic waste and a cultural change in the public.