Mysuru: With summer heat on the rise, foresters in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve are on their guard as miscreants from nearby villages are given to entering the forest and starting fires. To prevent these incidents, the authorities have decided to use quadcopters to conduct aerial patrolling on forest fringes, especially in the hilly terrain.In February last year, forest watcher Muragappa, who was dousing a forest fire in Kalkare range, wascaught in the blaze and burnt alive. A few others managed to escape with severe burn injuries.After the incident, the forest department introduced various measures to handle fires, including procurement of advanced technology fire dousers. They also decided to use the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the quadcopter, to patrol the forest.Wildlife volunteer Shivu gave a demonstration of the quadcopter to Bandipur authorities recently. The UAV with a video camera can track specific areas of the forest and officials can watch the live stream. “The UAV, which can travel at speeds of more than 60kmph, can detect forest fires and movement of people in the forest. The quadcopter can cover 10sqkm every day. It can monitor villages on the forest fringes where there are chances of people entering the place. This reduces the burden on forest staff who patrol the hilly region either on foot or in vehicles,” he said.While Kundugere range has fewer humans, Hediyala and Gopala Swamy Betta range are prone to forest fires torched by miscreants and UAVs can detect miscreants as well as fires.Bandipur Tiger Reserve conservator of forests and director Ambady Madhav said the newly recruited officers are well versed with new technology and can handle the latest technology adopted for protection of forest and wildlife. “The UAVs are helpful for surveillance, patrolling and detecting forest fires. We’ll have a pilot project in a few ranges before it is adopted for regular use,” he said.

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