The ministry of environment and forests has approved the proposal by the state government to declare the Wardha Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve, making it the 47th in the country. The other tiger reserves in the state are in Tadoba, Melghat, Pench, Nagzira and Sahyadri. “The Union minister for environment, forests and climate change, Prakash Javadekar, approved the recommendation to declare 13,812 hectare area of the Bor Sanctuary, New Bor Sanctuary and New Bor Extended Wildlife Sanctuary as a core or critical tiger habitat,” a press release by the press information bureau said.

Mr Javadekar is also the chairman of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. According to the state government, the Bor Wildlife Sanctuary was rich in biodiversity, having a wide variety of flora and fauna, including tigers, co-predators, prey animals and birds.

The scenic habitat is on the boundary of Nagpur and Wardha districts, amid the Satpura-Maikal landscape, forming catchment area for the river Bor. The sanctuary is also an important corridor between Tadoba-Andhari and Pench tiger reserves in the state.

“With Project Tiger coverage, the reserve would receive funding and technical support, strengthening tiger conservation,” the release said.

The Union environment minister also approved the recommendations of the technical committee of the authority for a project from the wildlife institute of India to establish ecological baselines for long-term monitoring of tigers, co-predators and prey species in the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining landscapes in Arunachal Pradesh, besides supporting the extension of a research project on intensive monitoring and study of tiger dispersal in the Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.