Despite tall claims on tiger conservation in the country and clamour for more funds by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, the Planning Commission has decided to reduce the budget of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) by 25 per cent.
The sources in NTCA and tiger experts feel this is against the Government’s own policy of making core critical area of tiger reserves inviolate. Such drastic cut in allocation would greatly hamper the relocation of villages from the reserves.
The move has come at time when the country is expecting its tiger population to go up in the upcoming census count. Also, when India joined the International Tiger Forum comprising 13 nations, the member countries had decided to focus on protection of the tiger habitats, addressing poaching, illegal trade and providing the financial resources for this emergency plan.
Talking to The Pioneer, well-placed sources in NTCA said, a letter stating a mere allocation of `150 crore has been received for the 39 tiger reserves of the country for the next fiscal year. The authority, during its recent meeting with the members of the Planning Commission, had sought `1,100 crore against which it had even agreed on an allotment of about `700 crore, the sources informed. However, this drastic cut in the funds has caught NTCA high and dry.
The sources in the NTCA further pointed out that the Government in its seriousness to make the core/ critical areas of tiger reserves inviolate had even enhanced the relocation package to `10 lakh per family.
The requirement of `5,000 crore was worked out for the relocation process during the entire plan period. There are 762 villages with about 48,000 families inside core areas.
Even the budget of `196 crore for the current fiscal year is insufficient to meet this massive task and is just about enough to keep the management and ongoing activities of tiger reserves going. “Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had taken up the issue with the Planning Commission and we hoped to have sufficient funds to give relocation a fresh impetus,” said the sources.
Commenting on the grim scenario, conservationist and former director of Project Tiger PK Sen pointed out that the cut in allocation would further aggravate the prevailing crisis in the tiger reserves. “How can we hope to make the critical areas of the reserve inviolate with such a meager fund”? he questioned. It would hamper the implementation of the Government’s own policy decision, he regretted. The worst hit would be the already suffering relocation of the villagers, he lamented.
The Prime Minister had directed that the Centre should fund modernisation of Tiger Reserves management and had sought a State-specific strategy for such Central assistance, while suggesting other protection schemes.
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