Thank our Forest Guards this World Ranger Day

Hi Friend,

Hope you are doing great!

At the outset, we would like to express our gratitude to you for supporting the project ‘Thank our Forest Guards this World Ranger Day’. The project aims to develop a strong, well-equipped and motivated force of Frontline Forest Staff, who are guarding India’s Protected Areas. Your generous contribution will significantly help us realize the project’s aim. We are also highly thankful to you for believing in us, our work and for choosing to donate for this cause.

Here are some of the updates from the project.

During the reporting period, we provided ex-gratia support to the one of the wildlife guards, Mr. Balwant* who was injured on 20^th of June by a group of encroachers, while he was participating in a drive to prevent them from cultivating paddy in the Hygam Wetland Reserve, in Kashmir. Mr. Balwant* has been working as a Wildlife Guard in the Wetlands Division in Kashmir since 2018.

He is responsible for carrying out anti-poaching raids and anti-encroachment drives as part of his duty to protect the flora and fauna of this Protected Area. He has demonstrated tremendous dedication towards his job, and has successfully prevented several poaching attempts in the past as well.

On the day of the incident, Balwant* was manhandled by the encroachers and sustained severe injuries as well as a fracture in his left arm. For treatment, he had to undergo an orthopaedic surgery in Srinagar. With your support, we could provide an ex-gratia amount of INR 10,000/- to Balwant* in this hour of need and covered his medical bills.

Patrolling the most difficult terrains on foot during harsh weather conditions, putting up with a lack of basic field equipment and field gear, and the worst of all, braving constant threats to their lives from poachers and timber mafias as well as accidental deaths or injuries on duty due to attacks by wild animals. The Frontline Forest Guards are enduring all this to protect India’s wildlife. To support these unsung heroes, WTI has pioneered a ‘Supplementary Accident Assurance Scheme’ through which we provide immediate ex-gratia support (INR 1, 00, 000/-) to the families of the deceased and lesser amount to the injured. The ex-gratia scheme is a component of a larger, umbrella project through which we also assist the government agencies in training and educating the frontline forest staff and equipping them with the basic field kits.

That’s all for today. We’ll soon follow up with more updates from the project. Till then, take care!

With regards,

Team WTI

*Name changed to maintain confidentiality