Solar street lights to brighten up five Sundarbans villages in West Bengal
SUNDARBANS: Around 4,516 villagers in the Sundarbans are set to enjoy brighter evenings from now on as solar street lights are being installed across five villages in the Kultali range. These solar lights will also reduce the man-wild conflict.
Villagers of Bhubaneshwar, Debipur, Modhho Gurguria, Purba Gurguria and Deulbari, Chituri Forest in Kultali range are victims of frequent snake bites as these villages are adjacent to the core area of the Sundarbans. The villagers stumble upon poisonous snakes in the dark, leading to death or serious injury on a regular basis. The Kultali range falls under the jurisdiction of directorate forest, South 24 Parganas division, government of West Bengal. The closest hospital is 36km away.
“Human and wild conflict is one of the prime problems in Sundarbans. There are brick roadswith electricity crisis. The mortality rate (65%) is very high for snake bite cases. In the last five years tigers intruded twice in the village land,” said Milan Mandal, DFO, South 24 Parganas.
