Two tiger reserves for Maharashtra

At a time when there is alarm over the decimation of the tiger population which was about 40,000 a century ago and shockingly slid down to 1,411 in the last census in 2008, Union Minister of Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh's announcement on Monday will bring in the much-needed protection of the country's national animal in areas where tigers are found.

Mumbai: Tiger protection has moved one step ahead with the announcement of two new tiger reserves in Maharashtra — the wildlife sanctuaries of Nagzira -Navegaon in Gondia and Bor in Wardha districts of Vidarbha.

At a time when there is alarm over the decimation of the tiger population which was about 40,000 a century ago and shockingly slid down to 1,411 in the last census in 2008, Union Minister of Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh's announcement on Monday will bring in the much-needed protection of the country's national animal in areas where tigers are found.

Except for the fairly new Sahyadri tiger reserve in western Maharashtra, four other reserves of Pench, Tadoba-Andhari and Melghat are found in Vidarbha. These and the tiger reserves — Panna, Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench ­— in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh are a part of the central Indian landscape that is home to some of India's large forest tracts and a rich wildlife.

Breeding ground

"They also form the breeding ground for tigers and the reserves are collectively linked," Kishor Rithe, conservationist and founder of Satpuda Foundation, told Gulf News from Amravati.

"It is but natural that Nagzira and Navegaon had to be declared as a tiger reserve considering the close proximity between the two."

M.M. Kulkarni, deputy conservator of forests of Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, said Nagzira and Navegaon sanctuaries are separated by 20km or so. It would have to be seen whether a corridor could be created between the two.

He added that "the proposal for these two tiger reserves has been before the central government for quite some time."