Water holes, both natural and man made, are being renovated and new ones are being dug to meet the drinking and bathing water requirement of the wild animals by forest department officers.

“So far we have readied 10 water holes and have to prepare another of same numbers in the coming days for the wild animals under Bonai Forest Range, and for this we are just waiting for the sanction to come in,” said DFO Sudhansu Khara of the range.

This time, the entire division has been put under VHF connectivity. “This we are going to inaugurate soon but it has already started functioning and the best part of this service is you always connect to those interior areas where connectivity is a problem,” said the DFO.

The connectivity will help in combating poaching, jungle fire and also maintaining the water holes he said. The division has a high concentration of barking and spotted deer, wild boar, rabbits, peacock, elephants etc.

Sundergarh district has three divisions. Bonai, Rourkela and Sundergarh forest divisions, managed by three DFOs. The district is a migratory route for many animals and elephant being at the top.

At Sundergarh, the divisional officer has already renovated five such holes, which were dug during last summer. “We have good number of natural water sources, which do not dry in summer for which we are rather going to strengthen the small check dams starting last part of this month,” said DFO Arun Mishra Sundergarh.

The summer is the right time as the animals from the neighbouring states like Chattisgarh also come in and we have to see that keeping a track on their entry routes, said Mishra.The spotting of a Royal Bengal Tiger and 12 leopards found has encouraged forest officials.

Meanwhile, under Rourkela division the renovation work is in progress and the complete picture will emerge next month.

“So far we have renovated seven water holes, and those are all man made ones. The natural, there are quite a few we are not touching them as they are perennial in nature,” said DFO Rourkela Sanjay Swain. Plans were made only to renovate the existing holes and not to go for new ones.