PANAJI: Forest minister Felipe Neri Rodrigues said his department is working out modalities of approaching elected representatives and stakeholders in the periphery of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary with the central government's proposal of declaring it a tiger reserve.
"We are in the process of finding a mode of reaching stakeholders, and my department is being sensitized about finding one," Rodrigues told TOI on Tuesday.
Department officials will have to prepare a draft plan to approach the stakeholders and create awareness about this proposal, he said.
Former union minister of environment and forests, Jairam Ramesh, had written, on June 28, to chief minister Digambar Kamat, urging him to consider a proposal to declare Mhadei as a tiger reserve on merit, and to even look at expanding its limits beyond the sanctuary.
Mhadei on Goa's eastern border is contiguous tiger landscape to Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary and Anshi-Dandeli tiger reserve in Karnataka, Ramesh had stated.
Karnataka's tiger landscape comprising Bhimgad and Anshi has a population of 35 tigers, while Goa had five to six big cats as per the census count almost a decade ago.
Rodrigues said his department was contemplating how to put the central government proposal before the elected representatives and stakeholders of the area. "A proposal will be prepared with department officials to reach the common man in habitations in or near the sanctuary areas," he said.
He further said that he would prefer to reach out to stakeholders first and "thereafter seek the general view of others".
When pointed out that a delay in completing the process may lead to further damage to the environment or advantage to the mining or other lobbies, the minister said it was important to spell out what the proposal is about first to the people.
Asked if spelling out merits and demerits of the proposal to the people would be done during the interactive session, Rodrigues said, "Implications of the tiger reserve proposal may not be done at this stage, but after seeking stakeholders' reactions."
Environmentalists have been irked by the forest department's denial of the tiger presence and the diversion of huge tracts of forest to development, especially to mining.
Rodrigues conceded that seeking the people's views may take some time.
National Board of Wildlife member and conservationist, Prerna Singh Bindra, had also chipped in with the suggestion to consider the tiger reserve proposal seriously as it would help the water security of the region. She had written to Goa's CM on July 22, stating that River Mhadei and a few other rivers in Karnataka have their catchment areas in the Mhadei basin.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Tiger-reserve-Its-now-how-to-approach-locals/articleshow/9376870.cms
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