Rise and fall of Sagareshwar

He first visited the Tadoba National Park on the eastern borders of Maharashtra, with a few local scribes in 1970. Tadoba proved to be a turning point for Mohite. The idea of setting up a reserve forest on the slopes of the Sahyadri near Devrashtra, his native village which happened to be his mentor Y.B. Chavan’s natal home, took hold of him.

Mohite used all his political clout overcame the bureaucratic apathy in the initial stages, toiled hard and the seeds were sown for an ambitious project to paint in green the Sagareshwar hillock, considered to be the outer limit of the prosperity the waters of Krishna river has bestowed upon the region.

Surrounding villages were reluctant to part with their grazing pastures. But they were convinced. The Sagareshwar project received a shot in the arm with the then chief minister, A.R. Antulay, assuring Mohite, financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakh every year for the next five years while conferring the Vrukshamitra award upon him.

Sagareshwar was once housing one of the most well-managed deer parks in the region with a few score spotted deer and black bucks. Nature worked on the slopes of Sagareshwar, rejuvenating a life cycle there.

The project which ran smoothly for about half-a-decade received a jolt with Mohite announcing that he would not enter the boundaries of Sagareshwar.

“It all started when a newly-posted ranger insulted me. He ordered me not to enter even the guest rooms without his permission. Workers there were pressurised to write false complaints against me,” Mohite said. He decided not to enter the sanctuary.

“They even removed some photographs showing people like Y.B. Chavan visiting the sanctuary,” Mohite lamented. They would have lost, had the then local MLA Sampatrao Deshmukh not helped him to get back at least some of them. “Still 57 fotos are missing,” Mohite said.

Foresters denied the allegations. Mohite misused a guest house and other equipment for his own good, they said adding that what all was done was just to stop the misuse of the sanctuary. The developments at Sagareshwar were underway, and very recently a lecture hall with some wildlife photographs was developed there, it was stated.

Even as senior forest officials maintain that they never gave a raw deal to Mohite, the controversy has taken its toll. In a debatable step, the deer which were confined to about 80 acres, were set free and today none is confident as to whether they are really protected. The foresters claim that the number of deer has shown a steady increase and the area is recording presence of other wildlife, visitors find it hard to locate the deer while farmers in surrounding areas complain of deer menace.

“They finish them (the deer) off,” an environmental activist said on condition of anonymity. Immediately, after the deer were set free by demolishing the chain-link fences confining them to a certain area, there were many cases of animals getting killed under the trains, he said. “It would be interesting to investigate how many of these were the real mishaps,” he said.

Mohite corroborated the charge that the sanctuary was in a state of neglect. “Not that all the available funds are being used here,” he said lambasting the unfeeling approach of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government. Even an assurance from Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has fallen short of saving the sanctuary, he said. He demanded appointment of a committee to go into his allegations.“I’m ready for any punishment, if found guilty,” he said adding that he was not under obligation of the Government. “Give me the sanctuary, sans foresters who would insult me and drive me out” and he would work miracles, Mohite said.