NEW DELHI: Sariska may have lost its tigers but in an unexpected twist to the tale, sightings of these majestic animals are now being reported from distant Tripura and Meghalaya.Several states are vying for new tiger reserves as the environment ministry's Project Tiger steering committee readies to meet after a two-year gap.
Information coming in from states indicates a few tigers have been spotted in Tripura and well over 40 in Meghalaya, after what is most certainly "a long gap".And when the steering committee meets on April 12, under the chairmanship of the environment minister, it will be scrutinising not just the Sariska crisis and tiger poaching but also the issue of new tiger reserves.
It appears several states are keen on new reserves, though problems with the existing 28 keep cropping up and nobody is sure of the actual numbers of animals. Himachal, for instance, is said to be pressing the case for a joint tiger reserve across......its territory, Uttaranchal and Haryana. Assam, Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra and Mizoram are reportedly among other states on the list.
The steering committee meeting is expected to be a heated one. Apart from senior environment ministry officials, it has on it activists and experts such as Valmik Thapar, P K Sen and M K Ranjitsinh.
Some of them, who have been vocal about the fate of the tiger, can be expected to take the fight into the government 'camp'. Among the items on the agenda are the issue of tiger poaching and what needs to be done to check it, the tiger habitat and population evaluation system, the progress made by independent monitors of tiger reserves so far, the fragmentation of habitat and the need for a landscape approach to conserve the animals outside tiger reserves. Individual experts are bringing their own issues to the table.
