JAIPUR: The roar of the tiger is all set to get louder at Sariska Tiger Reserve with the Centre finally approving relocation of two more tigers from Ranthambore National Park. The relocation of the big cats — one male and a female — is likely to take place on July 4.
According to forest officials, though the tentative dates for the relocation has been fixed for July 4, attempts for the same will begin from July 1 itself.
Sariska, as of now, has two female and a male tiger which were airlifted from Ranthambore between July 2008 and early 2009. However, further relocation attempts were put on hold after a few wildlife experts expressed fears that relocating the big cats without testing the genes to see if they belong to the same family might prove disastrous.
“An expert team comprising Aparajita Dutta from the National Wildlife Conservation Trust and AJT John Singh, former professor of the Wildlife Trust of India, has been camping at Ranthambore since long. In fact, it is in response to a letter written by Dutta on the rising pressure in Ranthambore due to the increasing population of big cats that the Centre has finally agreed to relocate transient tigers from there to Sariska,” said Ram Lal Jat, forest minister.
Officials of the state forest department said that DNA testing will continue alongside with relocation as it takes a lot of time. “The scats have been collected and sent for DNA testing. In this relocation, our prime objective would be to shift the two tigers which have strayed out of Ranthambore to Kota and Kailadevi. But in case we fail to locate them on that day, we will shift other identified tigers,” said an official.
Two tigers — a female, T-37 and a male, T-47 — had strayed away from the Ranthambore reserve earlier this year and have refused to come back so far. Forest officials have been maintaining a watch on them and trying to bring them back to the reserve. .
“We will try to shift distant animals so as not to affect the gene pool but even if the relocated animals are related in any way, we will try to correct it by relocating tigers from some other zone sometime later. There is, however, no question of incompatibility as the tigers from Ranthambore to be relocated are healthy,” he said. So far, nearly 10 tigers have been identified in the Ranthambore reserve for relocation, of which two will be chosen on that day.
Meanwhile, permissions like that for the use of a helicopter for airlifting the tiger have already been taken and researchers from Wildlife Institute of India and state forest department are camping in Sariska, keeping a track of identified tigers.
Monday, June 21, 2010
NTCA, state officials to visit Tiroda
NAGPUR: Finally, Tiroda could see some hectic activities. A six-member joint committee of top state officials and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will visit Tiroda on June 22 to inspect 163.84 hectare forest land proposed to be diverted for Adani Power Maharashtra Limited (APML) for its power plant.
NTCA, a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), has expressed concern over diversion of the forest land as it forms the corridor between 257 sq km Pench Tiger Reserve in Nagpur and 152 sq km Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in Gondia. The panel will study the impact of land diversion on wildlife, particularly tigers.
NTCA will be represented by wildlife conservationist Kishor Rithe. On the direction of P B Gangopadhyay, additional director general of forests (forest conservation), chief wildlife warden, A K Joshi constituted a committee under him on June 11.
The other members of the panel are chief conservator of forests (CCF) for wildlife, Nandkishore, as member-secretary; CCF for Nagpur territorial circle, Krishna Mohan; deputy conservator of Gondia, Mukesh Ganatra and Prafulla Bhamburkar of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) as members. A meeting will also be held to discuss the issue at Bhandara at 10 am. The visit will follow thereafter.
Two separate offences - one on May 16 and another on June 4 - have already been registered by Tiroda RFO against Adani Power for violating the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980 by digging huge trenches in survey number 163 in Mendipur, in the proposed forest land sought by Adani. However, permission has not been granted to divert the land as it forms part of the tiger corridor.
The APML was granted environment clearance for setting up a 1,320 mw (660mw x 2) coal-based thermal power project in Tiroda on May 29, 2008. The proposal was exempted from public hearing as it is located in the MIDC area. However, while according environmental clearance to the project, one of the conditions was to submit a plan for conservation of fauna reported in the study area. This was to be done in consultation with the wildlife department within three months and was to be implemented effectively.
Shockingly, the plan has not been submitted even after the lapse of 15 months. The company agreed to follow the condition only after August 14, 2009, that too because of CCF (Central), Bhopal, A K Rana’s visit to Nagpur.
Documents sought under the RTI Act show that APML had applied for expansion of another 660 mw project for which another 192 hectare land was needed. Of this, 163.84 hectare is forest land. The MoEF on September 10, 2008, prescribed terms of reference (TOR) for preparing the draft EIA report for the expansion project.
The conditions of the TOR include whether the project is within ten kilometre of the sanctuary or falls in the migratory route; details of flora and fauna duly authenticated to be followed by a conservation plan. The company submitted a conservation plan, but CCF (wildlife) has picked up many flaws in it saying it was prepared without studying the impact area. The CCF (territorial), Nagpur, has already submitted the APML expansion project falls within the ten kilometre of the Nagzira sanctuary.
“Since phase I and phase II are located at the same place, the impact of these projects in the study area and subsequent mitigative measures need to be studied taking them together along with the further expansion of the power project. Unless the environmental clearance is accorded to the said project, forest clearance under the FCA should also be kept in abeyance,” the report submitted to chief wildlife warden by the CCF states.
NTCA, a statutory body under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), has expressed concern over diversion of the forest land as it forms the corridor between 257 sq km Pench Tiger Reserve in Nagpur and 152 sq km Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary in Gondia. The panel will study the impact of land diversion on wildlife, particularly tigers.
NTCA will be represented by wildlife conservationist Kishor Rithe. On the direction of P B Gangopadhyay, additional director general of forests (forest conservation), chief wildlife warden, A K Joshi constituted a committee under him on June 11.
The other members of the panel are chief conservator of forests (CCF) for wildlife, Nandkishore, as member-secretary; CCF for Nagpur territorial circle, Krishna Mohan; deputy conservator of Gondia, Mukesh Ganatra and Prafulla Bhamburkar of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) as members. A meeting will also be held to discuss the issue at Bhandara at 10 am. The visit will follow thereafter.
Two separate offences - one on May 16 and another on June 4 - have already been registered by Tiroda RFO against Adani Power for violating the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980 by digging huge trenches in survey number 163 in Mendipur, in the proposed forest land sought by Adani. However, permission has not been granted to divert the land as it forms part of the tiger corridor.
The APML was granted environment clearance for setting up a 1,320 mw (660mw x 2) coal-based thermal power project in Tiroda on May 29, 2008. The proposal was exempted from public hearing as it is located in the MIDC area. However, while according environmental clearance to the project, one of the conditions was to submit a plan for conservation of fauna reported in the study area. This was to be done in consultation with the wildlife department within three months and was to be implemented effectively.
Shockingly, the plan has not been submitted even after the lapse of 15 months. The company agreed to follow the condition only after August 14, 2009, that too because of CCF (Central), Bhopal, A K Rana’s visit to Nagpur.
Documents sought under the RTI Act show that APML had applied for expansion of another 660 mw project for which another 192 hectare land was needed. Of this, 163.84 hectare is forest land. The MoEF on September 10, 2008, prescribed terms of reference (TOR) for preparing the draft EIA report for the expansion project.
The conditions of the TOR include whether the project is within ten kilometre of the sanctuary or falls in the migratory route; details of flora and fauna duly authenticated to be followed by a conservation plan. The company submitted a conservation plan, but CCF (wildlife) has picked up many flaws in it saying it was prepared without studying the impact area. The CCF (territorial), Nagpur, has already submitted the APML expansion project falls within the ten kilometre of the Nagzira sanctuary.
“Since phase I and phase II are located at the same place, the impact of these projects in the study area and subsequent mitigative measures need to be studied taking them together along with the further expansion of the power project. Unless the environmental clearance is accorded to the said project, forest clearance under the FCA should also be kept in abeyance,” the report submitted to chief wildlife warden by the CCF states.
Tiger bones and pangolin scales seized in Assam
Guwahati, Jun 20 (PTI) Around 10 kg of tiger bones and 500 kg of pangolin scales, worth crores of rupees, were seized from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport here in the past few days, forest officials said today.
Custom department's sleuths seized a consignment of over 300 kg of pangolin scales last night, they said.
On June 17, two bags containing ten kg of tiger bones and nearly 200 kg of pangolin scales were seized from the airport, they said, adding two persons have been arrested in this connection.
Both the consignments were meant to be sent to West Imphal via Dimapur.
The value of pangolin scale is estimated to be around Rs 70,000 per kg, while ten gms of tiger bone fetches about USD 200 in the international market, customs department officials said.
Custom department's sleuths seized a consignment of over 300 kg of pangolin scales last night, they said.
On June 17, two bags containing ten kg of tiger bones and nearly 200 kg of pangolin scales were seized from the airport, they said, adding two persons have been arrested in this connection.
Both the consignments were meant to be sent to West Imphal via Dimapur.
The value of pangolin scale is estimated to be around Rs 70,000 per kg, while ten gms of tiger bone fetches about USD 200 in the international market, customs department officials said.
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