Raipur: Barnawapara, the most famous and attractive sanctuary filled with wildlife diversity of Chhattisgarh, has been rejuvenated in recent times for the betterment of wildlife flora and fauna. Barnwapara Sanctuary is home to wildlife species like leopard, gaur, bear, sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, kotari, chausingha, wild boar, wild dog, striped hyena, fox, and wolf and mouse antelope. The total area of Barnawapara Sanctuary is 244.86 sq km, in which mainly mixed forest, sal forest, and teak plantations exist. Barnawapara also has unique trees from which woods like Sal and Teak is extracted. Other trees like Karra, Bhirra, and Senha are found in mixed forests. Teak is naturally grown in the teak plantation area and the Sal is grown in the Sal forest which is comparatively less in area. In addition to the beehive species, herbaceous species like Eupatorium, Lentana, Charotha are the main weeds, due to which the herbivore wildlife found in the Barnavapara Sanctuary area does not get grass to graze.This rejuvenation of the sanctuary has been done to eradicate unnecessary weed plantations in the area. The eradication has been done with the amount approved in the annual action plan 2021-22 of CAMPA (Chhattisgarh Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) under wildlife habitat upgradation work.Under the weeds eradication program, intensive lantana eradication and eupatorium eradication work has been done on 5 thousand 920 hectares of area. Out of which eradication work of lantana in total 950 hectares of 19 organic corridors of Baranwapara sanctuary has been done and the eradication work of eupatorium in a total area of 4 thousand 970 hectares in 32 corridors is included. As per the instructions of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, under the guidance of Forest and Climate Change Minister Mohammad Akbar, continuous work is being done to make the sanctuary more attractive.At a distance of about 100 km from the capital Raipur, the grass species have started growing rapidly due to the moisture content Barnawapara Sanctuary's soil located under Balodabazar Forest Division. Along with this, grasslands in the forests are available for the Wildlife to graze from. Due to this, they have started roaming freely after the eradication work of Lantana and Eupatorium. With this initiative, tourists can now easily spot Wildlife in the Sanctuary. Moreover, the wildlife of the forest has become healthier with the availability of more grazing grasslands. Principal and Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Animals) P.V. Narsingrao said that keeping this in view, the work of eradication of intensive lantana and eupatorium has been done under wildlife habitat upgradation work in the sanctuary, so that now in Barnawapara sanctuary, green edible grass can be made available to the wildlife throughout the year as their food and fodder.
