It was their love affair with nature that first drew noted wildlife photographers and filmmakers, Krupakar B.S and Senani Hegde, to the forests. But in the process they became acquainted with the people living on their fringes and conservation issues. From this was born Namma Sangha, a conservation movement to reduce the consumption of fuel wood by villagers on the periphery of the Bandipur National Park, in 2003.
Nearly 10 years later the two men look back with satisfaction as consumption of forest fuel by these villagers has fallen by 85% today. The project was simple: Provide low-cost LPG connections and distribute stoves free of cost to 80% of the 32,000 families in the 212 villages spread over 110 kms along the fringes of the park.
“When we started working in Bandipur National Park in 1993, we did a survey and found that the consumption of forest fuel was 3.50 lakh kg a day in these villages. At least 5,000 people entered the forest, disturbing wildlife to collect the wood. They also stole logs and dead animals,” Mr Krupakar recalls.
There were health issues involved too. A local doctor revealed that 70% of the women suffered from TB as their houses did not have proper ventilation and they constantly inhaled the smoke from the burning wood.
“It was crucial to save the habitat and preserve the forests. But adopting a new culture did not come easy to these people. It was a tedious process. We had to face hurdles and local politicians. But we began by educating the villagers,” he adds.
The men, used to telling their stories from behind cameras, became actively involved in the lives of the people, providing them LPG connections for Rs950 when these cost over Rs 3,000 each and distributing stoves free of cost among them. Although the villages were 30 to 40km away from civilisation, they didn’t demand service charges and even today when a regular LPG connection costs Rs 4,000 in the city, they supply them to the villagers for only Rs 2,500 each.
“This is working out reasonable for the villagers. We have two agencies, one on Ooty Road and the other on Mathikere Road. While initially we took the cylinders on a particular day of the week to the villages, they now book them over the phone and 11,000 cylinders are circulated among them monthly,” Mr Krupakar reveals.
Interestingly, Namma Sangha is neither funded by the government nor foreign agencies, but relies only on well- wishers. “We pooled in over Rs 80 lakh through our friends and others to run the voluntary organisation. We still need Rs 1 or 2 lakh every year to keep it going. The project is a success today, but is very difficult to replicate as it needs long term funding to sustain,” he explains