The Ministry of Environment and Forest has given the go-ahead for six states to notify eight new tiger reserves, adding about 7,500 sq km of sanctuary and bringing about 7 per cent of the country’s forest areas under Project Tiger.

Once the eight additions are made, the number of tiger reserves in the country will go up to 36.

But there can be a snag in the plans. In the last meeting of the National Board for Wildlife (NBW), it was decided that no new tiger reserves would be notified until the conditions of the existing ones improved.

“How can they declare more reserves without putting the house in order? Besides, parks like Kaziranga or Mudumalai are the best examples of conservation in India. They don’t need the Project Tiger tag,” said Valmik Thapar, a NBW member.

Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal, however, defended the decision saying under the project, these forests would benefit from Central funding. He said the proposals on eight new reserves were pending since 2002 and were “in principle” cleared by the Project Tiger steering committee.

“Many states had proposed to notify new reserves and we have given the green signal for eight. Some of these areas, such as Achanak Mar in Chhattisgarh, have great potential but need urgent monitoring,” he told The Indian Express.