Drop in MP's tiger population cause of concern

SATURDAY, 24 DECEMBER 2011 With the tiger population in the State declining from 300 in 2006 to 257 in the 2011 census wildlife experts have called for more efforts by the Forest Department to solve pending cases of poaching, writes Ritesh Mishra There was a 12 per cent rise in the population of big cats in the country in 2011, but Madhya Pradesh lost its 'Tiger State' status to Karnataka in this passing year. According to the tiger census of 2011, the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh dropped to 257 from 300 tigers in 2006. According to wildlife experts the causes of the decline in the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh are many but one of the most important was that most of the poaching cases were not solved till now, which has given an edge to the poachers and they continued hunting the felines. However, it is not new, but the pending cases of the forest offences are really concerning for the wildlife experts and even for the forest officials and they believe that the Forest Department should take the matter seriously as soon as possible. Reflecting sheer ineffectiveness, apathy and dilly-dallying in solving the forest offences, the figures of the Forest Department revealed that the pending cases till December 2011 in Madhya Pradesh was seven times more than the cases registered in the current year till now. Meanwhile, commenting over the issue, a retired senior official of the Forest Department, requesting anonymity, said that there can be various reasons behind the pending case as it could be lack of staff or negligence. "If more than 60,000 cases are pending in the Forest Department then it is concerning and senior officials should take responsibility," the officer added. Total number of forest offences registered in records of the Forest Department is 7,592 and the total number of pending cases is 60,280. More specifically, total 47,715 are pending for the last 12 months, which reflects the working of the department. The highest number of pending cases is in Bhopal, which is more than 10,800. More surprisingly, in the total 9,542 cases, investigation is pending for the last one year in the State capital only. Moreover, the highest number of forest offence cases has been registered in Bhopal, which sums up to 1,663 followed by Jabalpur (1,173) and Panna (104). RTI activist Ajay Dubey, while talking to The Pioneer said the main reason behind the pending of these cases was that the prosecution of the cases was not done properly. It was due to the apathy of some senior officials of the Forest Department. He further said that in various reports of the Forest Department it was made clear the most concerning issue for the department were the pending cases and the delay in the process but nothing appropriate has been done till now. "I don't know why the Forest Department is ineffective regarding the forest offences," he added. Bandhavgarh and Satpura National Park registered 40 cases each in 2011. Specifically, according to the records of forest offences maintained in the website of the department the cases registered from January 1 to December 7, highest number of the cases was of illegal felling (6097), in which total 1,248 cases are of Bhopal. Further in Jabalpur (1,063) and Seoni (1,129) cases have been registered. In Balaghat, where total 98 cases of forest offences have been registered, 90 are of illegal felling. The most important fact according to details of cases registered is about Panna. The highest number of poaching cases registered was in Panna (28) followed by Bhopal. The highest number of cases of illegal grazing is 30, out of 70 cases registered all over the State. The senior officials of Panna Tiger Reserve have already mentioned in a confidential report to HS Pabla that there are instances of involvement of Panna forest officials with the poachers of nearby districts. Further according to records maintained on investigation status of the forest offences cases, Bhopal ranks the top, with total 10,814 cases, followed by Jabalpur (3,937), Seoni (4,248) and Sagar (7,185), till December 7, 2011. As per details maintained about the pending cases of National Parks of Madhya Pradesh, total 417 are pending in Panna, 1,068 in Kanha and 381 in Bandhavgarh. According to wildlife experts there is a lack of coordination among the forest officials in solving the cases owing to which thousands of cases are pending in nearly all the major districts. The experts suggested that the Forest Department should start a drive in solving the pending cases as soon as possible. http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhopal/30162-drop-in-mps-tiger-population-cause-of-concern.html