3 states yet to notify tiger reserves

A 2006 Amendment in the Wildlife (Protection) Act said tiger reserves should be notified with a demarcation of a critical (core) area, to serve as an inviolate tiger habitat, and a buffer area which would help in creating contiguous tiger habitats.

Yet Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — with a total of five tiger reserves — have not made any formal area demarcations yet. Making a formal notification would mean the tiger reserve would get increased funding for patrolling and development under various heads from the Central National Tiger Conservation Authority.

While the Dudhwa tiger reserve in UP and Valmiki in Bihar have been in existence for a while now, Udanti Sitanadi and Achanakmar in Chhattisgarh were made tiger reserves this year. Further, Pilibhit in UP, which has a rich tiger population, has been recently given in-principle approval for becoming a tiger reserve. The tiger census released this year by the Wildlife Institute of India found that UP has 109 tigers, Chhattisgarh 26 and Bihar 10 (including inside and outside tiger reserves).

“Despite all our pressures, UP, Bihar and Chhattisgarh have not notified the core areas of the tiger reserves. While verbal commitments have been made, no formal notification has been made,” says Rajesh Gopal, member secretary, NTCA.

“In UP especially, intervention is required. The Environment Minister wrote to the Railway Minister suggesting a change of the railway line alignment after the Dudhwa accident,” he says.

“UP has always had a good tiger population. This is an extremely vulnerable area as it is next to the Nepal border and vulnerable to poaching,” says Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India.

“Not notifying critical areas is against tiger conservation and extremely unfortunate. The plan to divide a tiger reserve into a core and buffer zone was drawn by the Centre, specifically to aid tiger conservation,” says Ashok Kumar from the Wildlife Trust of India. The tiger census this year had found that the tiger population has dipped to an all time low of 1,411.

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