After taking some stick from the five-member parliamentary sub-committee which met Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel after visiting Gir and Girnar, Forest Minister Kanjibhai Patel withdrew special permissions given to the trust. He said that the temple trustees' family members will not be given identity cards and instead will now have to use permits to go into the sanctuary. The minister has also restricted the night-halt at the Kankai temple to only authorised people and temple trustees.

``It is good news for all conservationists and forest activists who are witness to the activities inside the sanctuary. Now there is some hope that the sanctity of the sanctuary will remain intact. Our combined efforts have at last yielded results,'' enthused the head of an NGO at Rajkot.

However, this is far from over and only a minor victory. There are many other vexing problems which hinder the sanctuary's bio-diversity conservation programme, involved in saving the last surviving species of the Asiatic lion.

The sanctuary is still open to heavy vehicle traffic. Wild animals, sometimes even lions and leopards, have been run over by speeding buses and trucks. They are usually hit-and-run incidents resulting in a slow and painful death of the animals. There has never been a case when vehicle owners or drivers have reported running over an animal so far, though this could have helped forest officials in saving the animal.

There is urgent need to seal all the highways passing through the sanctuary. Five state highways SH 23, 33, 98, 101 and 111 are used by more than one lakh vehicles annually. Besides, thousands of heavy trucks owned by cement companies and industries that have mushroomed on the coast, use these highways, often passing through dense forest areas, causing noise and air pollution and a constant source of irritation to the big cats.

The maldhari issue has also become a bone of contention between the forest department and the maldharis. The maldharis need to be rehabilitated outside the sanctuary if the conservation programme is to succeed.

Finally, the forest department must be given more teeth to effectively tackle encroachments on the periphery of the sanctuary.

The forest department and the powerful sadhu lobby backed by political parties have traditionally been at loggerheads. There are large-scale encroachments in the sanctuary in the name of temples and shrines which again attract a large number of visitors.