Bhanja sena to oppose shift of Tasar Centre

Baripada Jun 15 (UNI) ''Bhanja Sena'', a Mayurbhanj-based outfit has called for a major stir to protest Orissa government's move to shift the Tasar research centre from here to Bhubaneswar.

Bhanja Sena chief Kalinga Keshari Jena has alleged that some officials have conspired to shift the research centre to Bhubaneswar so that a Class I post could be created with headquarters at the state capital.

The outfit had sent a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik protesting the shifting of Modal Ecorace Conservation Project from here to Bhubaneswar.

The issue had also triggered discontentment among the tribal Tasar rearers of Mayurbhanj, as they collect the silkmoth from Simlipal's wild, domesticate them and rear them for 45 days to get a seasonal yield of tasar silk.

Many tribal rearers had expressed the apprehension that once the project headquarter is shifted from Baripada, the Modal silk moth would again be confronted with fresh threats of extinction.

The traditional tribal Modal silkmoth rearers like Sukhlal Hansda and Routray Marandi of Bangriposi block emphasised the need and urgency to conserve the wild ecorace so that the Mayurbhanj silk could continue to enjoy its distinction and pride of being the best in quality.

The ''Modal'' ecorace of tropical tasar silkmoth, once found in abundance in the Simlipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR), was in peril.

Scientists, who called them - ''Antheraea mylitta'' opined that this could spin the finest quality silk concoon with highest silk output among all the ten ecoraces commercially exploited in the country.

The weight of a Modal cocoon is about 14 grams, which could yield Tasar silk filaments of 1383 meters in length on an average.

A study by the sericulturists has reflected a sharp decline of the wild Modal ecorace population from 18.98 million in 1965 to less than one million in 2000. This has pushed the worm almost to the brink of extinction.

This study had prompted the Central Silk Board and Sericulture department to jointly launch a project called ''Modal Ecorace Conservation Project'' (MECP) to preserve the existing wild ecorace in their original habitat in SBR.

The project launched in 2002 is now in the fifth and final year of implementation and a proposal for extension of the project for a further period of five years is pending with the government.

UNI