gurugram the district forest department plans to build a centre to strengthen the wildlife rescue mechanism in the city to run a proper rescue centre the wildlife department which currently has only one qualified veterinary doctor needs to hire more doctors we have tied up with one of the best veterinary hospitals in gurgaon run by dlf foundation two vets from the hospital will be trained and certified in wildlife protocols and would be available to the department as and when required the animal rescue centre will be built on a site in the aravali forest area thats easily accessible said a senior forest officialaccording to officials the project has been planned keeping in mind the rise in numbers of leopards which have been rescued in the last year and a half weve conducted four successful operations to rescue leopards in the city over the last year there have been many more confirmed sightings of leopards a rescue centre is therefore the need of the hour the department will deal with wildlife rescues in future said the official the department also plans to dig 22 water holes in the aravalis ahead of the dry season during winters and fill them up regularly using tankers the water holes will be built in locations that have already been identified by the department in mangar sohna raisina hills faridabad and gwalpaharithese days every citizen is concerned about the rise in mananimal conflicts in the region exemplified by frequent intrusions of leopards into villages partly this is due to drying up of natural springs in the aravalis in the months after monsoon the forest department had earlier dug some waterholes in the aravalis but it needs to be done in a systematic manner while a system is put in place to ensure they are regularly filled during the dry season states a letter a copy is with toi sent by the office of the conservator of forest gurgaon to a private organisation to carry out the project as a publicprivate partnership ten leopard sightings and four leopard rescue operations have taken place in and around gurgaon in the last four months dlf foundation has partnered with the forest department to build water holes and the wildlife rescue centre