Maharashtra for clubbing of Tipeshwar, Painganga sanctuaries to form tiger reserve

DNA India , Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Correspondent : DHAVAL KULKARNI
The Maharashtra government is pushing for the Tipeshwar wildlife sanctuary to be clubbed with the Painganga sanctuary and be declared a tiger project. A proposal in this regard has been sent to the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife).

"Tipeshwar is a small sanctuary measuring just 148.63sqkm. This will not fit into tiger reserve norms. Hence, the proposed core area should be bigger," said MS Reddy, chief conservator of forests (CCF) and project director of the Pench Tiger Reserve. The Painganga wildlife sanctuary is located around 100km from Tipeshwar but connected through a forested corridor.

"Together, they will make a big chunk of forest. This will be like the Navegaon-Nagzira tiger reserve. We are following that pattern," said Reddy. The aerial distance between Tipeshwar and Painganga is nearly 75km. The Painganga wildlife sanctuary is spread over an area off 400.28sqkm.

"The connected forest patches between Tipeshwar and Painganga can be declared as the buffer zone," said Reddy, adding that unlike the resistance from the local elected representatives that such tiger reserves face elsewhere, local MLA Raju Todsam and union minister of state HansrajAhir have written to the state and the Centre in support of the project.

The Tipeshwar sanctuary is located at a distance of around 170km from Nagpur and houses nine tigers, including five sub-adults and four adults, two males and two females. This sanctuary is emerging as a source population area for Painganga, the Tadoba- Andhari tiger reserve and even the Kawal tiger reserve in Telangana, with tigers migrating there and enriching the gene pool.

At Navegaon-Nagzira, five protected areas – Navegaon national park and Nagzira, Navegaon, New Nagzira and Koka wildlife sanctuaries, spread over 653.67sqkm, were clubbed together to form a core tiger area. If declared a tiger reserve, this will be the seventh in Maharashtra, making it the state with most such reserves.

Wildlife researcher and faculty in the department of zoology at the SM College in Pandharkawada, Yavatmal, Ramzan Virani, noted that declaring Tipeshwar-Painganga as a tiger reserve will increase the level of protection and conservation due to more staff and stringent rules. It will also ensure fund mobilisation and deployment of special tiger protection force (STPF) to prevent poaching. Tiger reserve status will boost tourism as well and create employment opportunities for people due to livelihood and entrepreneurship development schemes.

Virani added that declaring the area a tiger project will also restrict mining, quarrying and extraction activities in the adjoining areas.

Maharashtra has six tiger reserves. In 2014, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Ministry of Environment and Forests, approved the state's notification of the Bor tiger reserve spread over Wardha and Nagpur, making it the latest tiger reserve. The tiger census, results for which were released in 2014, have stated that India has 2,226 tigers, up from 1,706 in 2010. Maharashtra has around 190 such big cats, more than the figure of 169 in 2010.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-maharashtra-for-clubbing-of-tipeshwar-painganga-sanctuaries-to-form-tiger-reserve-2206462
 


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