To keep villages on the bank of Ganga from farming on forest land and catching fish from the river, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) plans to encourage people there to find alternative means of livelihood. In Bijnor, the forest department along with the Wildlife Institute of India visited Rawli village here and encouraged villagers not to encroach on forest land. A large number of villagers on the bank of the river are known to practice vegetable farming on sand as they have no other option of livelihood. A joint team of the WII and forest department once found several nets in the river while they were conducting a dolphin census. As fishing in Ganga pollutes the river, the WII plans to visit the villages along the river and encourage them to professions that suit them best, instead activities that pollute the river. They will also prepare a report from their visits about the alternative employments the villagers could pursue, and send it to the central government for approval. The WII plans to train the villagers in particular activities and also arrange for loans for them. Talking to TOI, Vipul Maurya, research associate of Wildlife Institute of India, said, The WII’s aim is to conserve wildlife as well as the community around it. The wildlife has been affected by illegal farming on the sand of river and fishing. We are assessing the dependency of villagers on such activities by conducting a study from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar. Surveys are being conducted in all villages on the bank of the river. We will later devise a plan to motivate the villagers for self-employment so the wildlife can be saved. A team from the institute visited Rawli village a few days ago and held a meeting there. As for a profession that could suit them, the team found the villagers to be efficient in making carpets and furniture, mostly from reed. We have visited Rawli village in Bijnor. A meeting was also held there to get an idea of possible alternate livelihoods for the villagers. We will prepare a concrete report in this regard and later work will be done under the Namami Gange scheme (of the central government) or any other scheme for the welfare of the community, which is fully depended on the river, Maurya added. Division forest officer of Bijnor, M Semmaran told TOI, A team of the Wildlife Institute of India talked to villagers at the Rawli village about their social and economic status and sources of earning. Many villagers earlier used to make carpet and reed furniture but now they do not. The team wants to secure the livelihood of the villagers and at the same time, not have them pollute the Ganga. The initiative is to create self-employment for them.