Jairam, Kamal Nath clash lover Pench Tiger Reserve highway - TOI

NEW DELHI: It was a virtually a clash between two of UPA government's high-profile ministers Kamal Nath and Jairam Ramesh in the Supreme Courtover a road -- whether there should be an elevated corridor of national highway through the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh or the existing road should be widened.

In the midst of a clash of views between the ministries of transport and environment, amicus curiae Harish Salve introduced an emotional twist by telling the Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam that he wanted to withdraw his suggestions since he had been maligned for making them.

But by the time he had appealed to the Bench to treat his suggestion to widen the 18-metre-wide road to 30 metres as withdrawn, the Bench had moved ahead to ask the two ministers to thrash out the differences.

The apex court appointed high-powered environment panel Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had suggested an elevated corridor be built for the prupose of a proper highway through Pench Reserve, but taking into account the enormous expenditure of Rs 900 crore required for it had favourted widening of the existing road.

Appearing for the ministry of transport, additional solicitor general Vivek Tankha said that all parties -- Madhya Pradesh government, National Highway Authority of India and transport ministry -- were agreeable to Salve's suggestion and that the court could put its stamp of approval.

However, counsel for the Jairam Ramesh-headed ministry of forest and environment, advocate Harish Beeran put a spoke into the transport ministry's suggestion and said MoEF had serious objection to widening of the road.

Beeran said that widening of road to 30 metres would destroy a large number of trees in the dense forest in Pench Reserve, one of the well-protected habitat for tigers. He said MoEF was agreeable to CEC's suggestion for constructing an elevated corridor that would involve least cutting of trees and also not obstruct the elephant corridors.

The Bench told the ministry of transport that the government cannot have it both ways -- protection of tigers and environment and not spending money. It asked officials of the two ministries to hold a meeting and thrash out the differences and present a composite plan, if possible, to the court on January 29 when the matter would be taken up for hearing again

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Jairam-Kamal-Nath-clash-lover-Pench-Tiger-Reserve-highway/articleshow/5489759.cms

Ramesh under pressure to clear Lohara - TOI

NAGPUR: Under pressure from his cabinet colleagues to give go-ahead to coal blocks of Adani group in Lohara close to Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve union minister of environment & forests Jairam Ramesh will visit Lohara and Tadoba on January 26 to ascertain the facts. He will be accompanied by top MoEF officials.

According to highly-placed sources, Ramesh is arriving in the city on Monday night and will leave for Tadoba by road on Tuesday morning. After the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the MoEF rejected Adani's proposal to clear 1750 hectares of dense forests in Lohara for coal mining, Ramesh is under pressure to reconsider the proposal.

Sources say as coal blocks suitable for Adani power plant in Tiroda near Gondia, home town of Praful Patel, are not available, the company is again vying for Lohara. The MoEF in November 2009 has already rejected the proposal on the grounds that mining project is in the buffer of TATR and the corridor is a rich forest and forms fringe of tiger reserve. The panel has also asked Adani to meet the coal requirement by importing coal from other blocks.

Sources said Adani was planning to seek coal from Madanpur and Parsakete blocks in Korba but these blocks too have been denied by the MoEF on the ground that these form part of elephant corridor. Left with no option, now Adani group is once again seeking Patel's help to get Lohara blocks cleared.

Earlier, Patel had told TOI it was the responsibility of the UPA government to provide an alternate coal block to Adani. "A new site for coal mining will be allotted to the company. if there was a delay in allotment of alternate site for coal mining, then efforts will be made to provide coal for the project from an alternate coal linkage. We will ensure that there was no delay in the commissioning of the thermal power plant," he had said.

In view of this, sources close to Ramesh said it's true that the minister is under pressure to clear Lohara blocks. When contacted, Ramesh told TOI, "Yes, there is pressure, but I am not going to buckle. I'm visiting Tadoba and Pench tiger reserves on January 26 and will be having Bt-brinjal consultations on January 27 in Nagpur and also visit Neeri."

The move by Adani is likely to foment fresh trouble with anti-mining activists and conservationists planning huge protests in Chandrapur during Ramesh's visit to protest against mining near TATR. "We praise Ramesh for his bold decision to reject mining near Tadoba. However, renewed attempts by Adani to grab Lohara will be foiled," warned Bandu Dhotre and others, who have taken the matter to high court through a PIL. Many activists plan to meet Ramesh in Chanda

Tigers' pug marks spotted across Karnataka

er census in Bhadra wildlife sanctuary is going on without any impediment. Footprints of tigers have been spotted by thevolunteers while walking in the forest.

A team has found the big cat's pug marks and another team has collected its scats. The 37 teams led by the Bhadra wildlife deputy conservator of forest, Vijayamohanraj, are making efforts to find signs of the big cat and other predators like leopards, sloth bears and doles.

Each team has been provided with a forest front line staff in all the four ranges of Bhadra wildlife sanctuary. Monday onwards they will begin walking on transact lines and enumerating herbivores and also assessing the status of the flora. The tiger assessment will come to an end on January 27.

Tiger with travelling itch finds home from home

A tiger travelled 270 km from its homestead to establish a new home, baffling experts who are speculating about its migratory route which is dotted by human habitat.

The finding, supported by photographs taken by hidden camera traps, established that the tiger from the Bhadra tiger reserve moved out of its home range and formed a new territory at Dandeli-Anshi reserve.

Scientists and tiger experts in the State are as excited as they are baffled, as the discovery may go to render the camera trap a reliable method to monitor tigers. The finding, resulting from three years of study, began with the camera trapping a four-month-old cub that was photographed along with his sister and mother for the first time at Bhadra in April 2006.In October 2006, a wildlife photographer captured it on camera while it was trying to corner a gaur in the company of another tiger.

The bombshell came in May 2008, when the cub, now a two-year-old, was first pictured at the Dandeli tiger reserve. Yet again in 2009, a camera trap in Dandeli photographed it. The picture was sufficient proof of the migrant tiger having set up its territory over there – 270 km from its native home range.

How did the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) establish that the tiger was from Bhadra?

It is well established that the stripes of the tiger, like human fingerprints, are unique to each animal.

Tigers photographed by camera traps are classified by their stripes for monitoring purposes. The cameras are placed at crucial places where the animal movement is frequent. The traveller-tiger is among 11 individuals trapped by camera at Bhadra, and after it was photographed again at Dandeli, was identified by its stripes. The WCS has created a database of individual photographed tigers.

Scientists say that Indian tigers, governed by the availability of prey, do not migrate for a long distance, unlike the Siberian tiger which tend to travel up 500 kilometres in search of prey.

WCS India director Dr Ravi Chellam said the home range of tiger was believed to be 60 sq km. “This has opened avenues of study, because there is human habitat en route, and it (tiger) could not have travelled as the crow flies,” he said.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/48570/tiger-travelling-itch-finds-home.html