The Transit Treatment Centre (TTC), Seminary Hills, which is the busiest unit of Forest Department for rescuing wild animals in Maharashtra, has to deal with fund crunch for the last one year when it came to buying safety and rescue equipment. The TTC team, which performed the daredevil rescue operation of a leopard which injured more than half-a-dozen persons at Pardi area in city on Wednesday morning, were short of proper safety equipment and vehicle during that particular operation. According to a senior official of TTC, the rescue team on Wednesday had no vehicle to transport the leopard to TTC back and also borrowed safety shields from deployed police staff during the operation. “We are demanding different rescue equipment like safety shields, sticks, chest shield, nets, etc. from the department for the last one year.

 

The cages were also in poor condition which require maintenance,” said Kundan Hate, In-charge, TTC told The Hitavada. As per the information shared by a source involved in the operation, “After rescuing the leopard, the vehicle which was transporting the big cat to TTC, broke down mid-way. The team hired a small pickup vehicle to transport the leopard to Seminary Hills.”

 

The TTC has five rescue vehicles, including a fully equipped ambulance. However, all the five vehicles require maintenance and in current situation, TTC has to hire a vehicle to transport any wild animal after its rescue. “We have contractual staff who participate in such daredevil rescue operations all the time. They do work on a very nominal salary with no benefit of insurance for such brave rescue works,” said a senior officer of TTC. “Government should work proactively for such issues as the frontline staff of the department face such life threatening events in every rescue activity,” said Hate. “The proposal for fund allocation for purchase of new cages, safety equipment, maintenance of vehicles etc. for TTC has already been forwarded to the ministry. The Forest Minister himself said today that he will consider the proposal and release fund soon,” informed Dr Vinita Vyas, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Territorial to ‘The Hitavada’.