Daltonganj/Ranchi: The officials of the Palamu Tiger Rerserve (PTR) have said cheetals can be easily translocated in one go using the technique. The distance of all four soft breeding-cum-release centres from Betla National Park is less than 55 kms and hence two to three transportation of the cheetals can be done in a day. Each of these soft breeding-cum-release centres will have less than 50 cheetals. Around 200 cheetals are expected to be relocated. On the new intra-translocation technique, Jena said, We will be doing it for the first time but we are confident. A good number of PTR officials took training on the Boma technique at the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh last month. We will also invite Boma technique experts of the Kanha Tiger Reserve during the exercise. This technique has been used successfully in the Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh.In the meantime, at a review meeting chaired by NTCAs member secretary S P Yadav in Ranchi on Sunday, senior officials of the PTR floated the idea of shipping in 400 deer and 25 sambhars, and starting a breeding programme at the under-construction soft-release centres and subsequently releasing them into the wild.Kumar Ashish, the deputy director of PTRs south division, said Ranchis Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, which has an excess of deer and sambhars, has expressed its readiness to hand over 300 deer and 25 sambhars to the PTR. Similarly, the management of Kali Mati Deer Park, which is located at the intersection of Ranchi and Khunti districts, has agreed to hand over 100 deer.During the meeting, Yadav asked the PTR management to draft proposals for the translocation and forward them to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for clearance. The translocated deer will be first kept in the soft-release centres and once they start delivering fawns, we will bring them up. Their offspring will then be released into the wild, Ashish said. He added that the deer and sambhars would be translocated only to replenish the prey base in the south division of the PTR, which is currently empty. There are over 5,000 deer in the PTRs north division, which also comprises the Betla National Park.Besides the translocation of deer and sambhar, the PTR manager also apprised the NTCA official of its plans to commission solar-powered borewells to replenish the artificial and natural waterholes which dry up during summers. Brajesh Kumar Jena, the deputy director of PTRs north division, said 30 such solar-powered borewells will be commissioned before next summer. These borewells would be switched on by our guards during morning patrols. Three-layered structures would be built in the shapes of garlands above natural water sources so that excess water could trickle down and be stored, he added.

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