Forest staff build 100 sandbag check dams in Savli range in 15 days, including one on Chargaon river

Rainfall has been lower this year, raising fears of a water shortage in the coming summer. With this in mind, the forest department is running a large-scale water conservation campaign in Savli forest range. As part of the campaign, a large sandbag dam was built on the Chargaon river on November 6, 2026.

The work was carried out under the guidance of Rajan Talmale, Divisional Forest Officer, Chandrapur, and Vikas Tarse, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Chandrapur. It was led by Vinod Dhurve, Range Forest Officer, Savli.

The dam in the riverbed will stop water from flowing away and create a local store of water. The water will give wild animals and birds drinking water. It may also help water conservation and groundwater recharge in the area. If water is available inside the forest, it may also strengthen efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict.

The campaign had set a target of building at least five sandbag dams in every beat of Savli forest range. Accordingly, a total of 100 sandbag dams have been built across the range in the past 15 days. This has speeded up efforts to hold rainwater, let it seep into the ground and increase the availability of water in the forest.

Field assistants, foresters, forest guards, beat helpers, PRT teams and forest labourers from all five sub-ranges, Savli, Pendhri, Pathri, Vyahad and Rajoli, volunteered to build the Chargaon river dam. The work was completed through their collective effort.

From Savli sub-range, Field Assistant N. L. Sidam, Forest Guard M. V. Munde of Sadagad, Forest Guard Ku. A. A. Gitte of Tekadi and Forest Guard R. R. Murkute of Chakparanji took part. Roshan Madavi, Dinesh Madavi, Navneet Jarate, Puneshwar Bhoyar, Rakesh Gundawar, Nagesh Baddamwar, Rakesh Ghotekar, Shubham Deshmukh, Aniket Jarate, Abhishek Bhoyar, Nitin Bhoyar, Vaibhav Gohane, Sameer Gohane and Ritesh Gohane also worked alongside them.

From Pendhri sub-range came Forester A. N. Meshram, Forest Guard D. L. Gurnule of Pendhri and Forest Guard Akhade of Chargaon. The beat helpers included Mithun Pendam of Pendhri, Nagnath Narmalwar of Chargaon and Vinod Jengthe of Mundala, along with the PRT team of Chargaon.

From Pathri sub-range, Field Assistant M. J. Maske, Forest Guard S. T. Chudhari of Palebarsa, Forest Guard M. P. Ingle of Gevra and Forest Guard K. P. Munghate of Pathri took part. Dronacharya Lonbale, Rajendra Gedekar, Vinod Waghare, Vinayak Bhade, Suraj Kotgale, Tekaji Wadhankar, Shamrao Chaudhari and Jagdish Meshram were also there.

From Vyahad sub-range, Field Assistant M. V. Pullewad, Forest Guard Rajendra Dange of Upri, Forest Guard Akshay Meshram of Gaydongri, Forest Guard Dilip Shedmake of Samda and Forest Guard Eknath Khude of Navegaon took part. Beat helpers Gajanan Pipre, Ravindra Rohankar, Anil Bhoyar and Vilas Chudhari also worked on it.

From Rajoli sub-range came Field Assistant A. B. Shelki of Rajoli, Forest Guard S. J. Ade of Rajoli, Forest Guard S. A. Nagose of Chitegaon and Forest Guard N. Y. Borkar of Golabhuj. Field assistant helpers Rambhau Kadaskar, Suraj Marbhate, Sameer Bawane and Vishal Kannake also joined.

Forest staff showed unity by turning the idea of "stop the water, let it seep into the ground" into real work. The campaign also showed their commitment to protecting the environment.