Once under the purview of project tiger, the forest receives a high conservation status. Looking at this aspect, there has been a demand for yet another tiger reserve in the state at Tipeshwar which, a few kilometres from the Pench Tiger Reserve.

A letter to this effect was sent to the state revenue and forest minister SudhirMungantiwar demanding that since the forest houses around nine tigers, it should be upgraded to a tiger reserve from a wildlife sanctuary — a status which it already holds. If declared, it would be the seventh tiger reserve in the state.

When Mirror contacted Mungantiwar he said he would definitely look into the upgradation. "It is good to see people taking up conservation. If this is genuinely going to help the wildlife, we will be more than happy to upgrade the status," he added.

Ecologists, activists and politicians have taken up the causes of tiger protection and forest conservation wholeheartedly. They list down the advantages of the reserve status and also how it could curb the issues that are leeching away theforest's health.

"Ecotourism at Tadoba or Pench is very developed, with proper stay facilities and guided tours available throughout the year. Same cannot be said about Tipeshwar. There are three to four villages on the premises which are tainted with animal attacks. If the area is bestowed with the reserve status, animals will be able to move more freely, thus avoiding the man-animal conflict," informed Raju Todsam,the MLA from Yavatmal who also wrote the letter to Mungantiwar.

The forest department cited several positive leads that come with the reserve status. Primarily, the funds allocated at the time of declaration are quite high. G B Lambade, range forest officer of Tipeshwar, said, "The capitals will take care of manpower crunch. We can appoint special tiger force to maintain security throughout the forest.

Considering that a tiger roams the jungle in search of its territory, we will be able to get a bigger buffer zone, which will aid us in conserving surrounding areas."

Ecologists, too, believe that the additional resources will help eliminate the manpower crisis. At the moment, Pandharkawda forest, which is close to Tipeshwar, has six assistant conservators of forest. The same cannot be said about Tipeshwar. "For Tipeshwar and Painganga together, there is only one assistant conservator of forest. For better management, more staff needs to be appointed," said RamjanVeerani, a zoology professor from ShivramjiMoghe Science Arts and Commerce College in Yavatmal.

Ecologists also felt that the status will enhance forest security and prevent it from being exploited by poachers and smugglers. BalajiYerawar, an environment activist who works in that region, revealed that the unguarded boundaries have led to wood theft and poaching. "There are a lot of Sagwan tree thefts which occur in the forest. Besides, many deer species fall prey to poachers, who come from Hyderabad here and take it away by road. Since there are no guards at the forest entrance, invaders have free access to the forest," he said.