NAGPUR: It is not just people of Vidarbha who suffer discrimination within Maharashtra. The step-motherly treatment extends to even wild animals. Even though Vidarbha has a bulk of Maharashtra's forests and wildlife, most of the funds for their protection are being siphoned off to western Maharashtra.
The manner in which funds were distributed under the state plan in 2009-10 show how the government, in its eagerness to take monies to western Maharashtra, is even leaving state's tigers unprotected. Of Rs 41.56 crore grants released under various heads, only Rs 3.78 crore were given for Vidarbha, while protected areas (PAs) in Western Maharashtra, which have only a fraction of wildlife of Vidarbha, managed to grab the rest.
Apart from the grants released under the centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) by the ministry of environment & forests (MoEF), money is released under state plan for promoting eco-tourism, wildlife protection, relocation of villages inside PAs, forest tourism, rescue centres and nature conservation.
Of the Rs 3.78 crore, Nagpur Wildlife Circle got Rs 1.80 crore for eco-tourism. It includes Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (Rs 96 lakh); Pench (54 lakh); Bor (Rs 12 lakh); Tipeshwar (Rs 7.50 lakh); Chaprala (Rs 8.71 lakh) and Bhamragarh (Rs 2.10 lakh). Besides, Rs 1.43 crore were released for Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) including Rs 1.25 crore for MTR; Rs 7.40 lakh for Wan and Rs 10.60 lakh for Ambabarwa sanctuaries.
The state released Rs 3.18 lakh for a nature interpretation centre in Nagpur. Nagzira and Navegaon areas were completely ignored. Rs 10.67 lakh has been released for development of forest garden in Chikhaldara; Rs 6.67 lakh for Wadali (Amravati) and Rs 62.17 lakh for proposed works on Gorewada Zoo. The PAs in Vidarbha got Rs 3.24 crore but considering their area and importance, this is meagre.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Funds delay Sahyadri tiger plan
SATARA: Paucity of funds has delayed installation of sophisticated highly sensitive cameras in Chandoli National Park and Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, both part of the proposed Sahyadri tiger project.
The camera trapping is planned to capture images of tigers and the large number of their prey animals in these protected areas.
Sahyadri Tiger Project will be the fourth tiger projects in the state. The rest three tiger projects in the state - Tadoba-Andhari project, Pench project and Melghat project - are in the Satpura range of forests.The exact number of tigers in Chandoli and Koyna sanctuaries is not known. Tigers have rarely been spotted by anyone in these two wildlife sanctuaries. The presence of pug marks had, however , confirmed existence of these wild animals. The Centre had recently announced the Sahyadri Tiger project to protect these and other endangered animals as well as several rare plants found in these bio-diversity-rich region.
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100405/4661055558105635176.htm
Bangla for joint tiger census with India
STAFF WRITER 20:58 HRS IST
Kolkata, Apr 5 (PTI) Bangladesh today proposed a joint tiger census with India in the Sunderbans to arrive at an accurate estimate of the number of big cats there.
"The tigers of the Sunderbans are no respector of borders. They roam freely in both the Bangladesh and Indian sides, making tiger census almost as difficult as counting crows. So, there must be a joint tiger census with Bangladesh and India," Environment and Forest Minister of Bangladesh Hasan Mahmud told newsmen.
In reply to a question, Mahmud said the last tiger census carried out in Bangladesh in 2004 estimated the number of the big cats at 440. The figure now stands at 450.
Mahmud, who earlier called on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said he had requested the latter's support in voting Sunderbans as the 7th wonder of the world.
Kaziranga brought fresh hopes on tiger conservation: Ramesh
Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said Kaziranga has brought fresh hopes on tiger conservation in the country with the National Park registering a density of about 30 tigers over 100 square kilometres of the park, which he described to be the highest in the country.
After a field visit the Minister told journalists inside the world heritage site, that such a high density indicate that Kaziranga with a total area of more than 1000 square km area should have more than 100 tigers. Mr. Ramesh said that figures of tiger census would be out in November. Assam Forest and Environment Minister Rockybul Hussain accompanied Mr. Ramesh in field visit.
Regional offices
The Union Minister announced that four regional offices of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) would be opened in Bangalore, Nagpur, Kolkata and Guwahati to spread out activities of NTCA to field areas and to ensure that it did not remain Delhi-centric. The NTCA headquarters in Delhi would also look after northern India.
http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article389104.ece#
Maoists let tiger census officials enter their den
New Delhi: Even as security agencies are busy fighting the bloodiest battle against Maoists, the red brigade is actually helping the environment and forests ministry conduct the tiger census.
For the first time in a decade, wildlife officials have managed to enter three tiger reserves in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand that were earlier out of their reach.
After having detailed discussions with the Maoists in these three jungles and helping them understand the threat to Indian tigers, scientists and forest officials finally managed to enter Indravati tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh, Simlipal in Orissa and Palamu in Jharkhand.
“These tiger reserves are Maoist dens. But this time, we will have tiger census in these areas. Census in Indravati will be conducted in the second phase that would start after the monsoon,” Qamar Qureshi, a scientist in the Wildlife Institute of India that is spearheading the tiger census, said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maoists-let-tiger-census-officials-enter-their-den_1367911
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