In view of the alarming reports about disappearance of tigers from various national parks in the country, the Centre today decided to constitute a task force on the status of tigers in wildlife parks and set up National Wildlife Prevention and Control Bureau on the lines of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to gather intelligence and stop poaching.

There have been reports about the declining number of tigers in wildlife sanctuaries in the country. A gang of suspected poachers reportedly confessed to killing at least 10 tigers in Sariska in Rajasthan between 2001 and 2004, of which five were killed during the monsoon of 2004.

After a meeting of the National Board for Wildlife today, convened after a gap of 17 months and chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest Secretary, Dr Prodipto Ghosh, told mediapersons that officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, along with a special investigating team of the CBI, would visit Sariska to assess and probe the tiger crisis there.