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Minister of Environment and Forests Thiru A. Raja has said that red alerts, apart from directives for monsoon patrolling, have been issued to all tiger reserves. Addressing the meeting of the Field Directors of the Tiger Reserves and the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the States here today, Thiru Raja emphasized the need for learning from the Sariska experience and called for evolving a road map in a concerted manner to protect the tiger in its habitat.
Stressing that there is no evidence to draw a general inference that Sariska like situation is prevailing in other protected areas and tiger reserves, Thiru Raja said that the impression created in this regard, without verifying the basic ground reality, is not well founded.
“While the new country level census figures of tiger would be available after February 2006, the subjective opinions of some individuals based on anecdotal evidence should not lead to a conclusion that the tiger population is declining in the country as a whole, he added.
Terming the situation in Sariska “an unfortunate one”, which is the cumulative effect of long standing chronic problems facing the reserve, Thiru Raja observed that “several disturbing factors in and around Sariska, like presence of villages, heavily used infrastructures like roads and increased tourist visitation have all resulted in a stagnating population of tigers which did not breed for a long time. Therefore, with the slackening of day-to-day supervision and control, the population has been decimated”.
Stating that there is a statistically valid correlation between the tiger sighting frequency and the estimation done over the years in most of our reserves, the Minister pointed out that this correlation is not seen in problematic reserves including Sariska. “However, there are site specific problems in Tiger Reserves and we are committed to address these based on specific proposals from the concerned State Governments. The Wildlife Institute of India has been directed to undertake a detailed study of Sariska for advising us on the re-ameliorative measures. For the first time, the Ministry has collated and analysed the all India tiger poaching data”, he said.
Stressing that the situation calls for concerted efforts to strengthen our park management, apart from ecliciting public support, the Minister said that the implementation responsibility vested with the states, as far as forests and wildlife are concerned, should be realized by all concerned, adding that “our parks, sanctuaries and tiger reserves cannot be viewed in isolation. The problems prevailing in these reserves, by and large, reflect the overall situation in the respective States”.
Pointing out that poaching is a matter of criminal investigation, which rests squarely with the State Governments, akin to ‘law and order’, the Minister informed that the process of inter-ministerial consultation is underway regarding the creation of a ‘Wildlife Crime Bureau’ on the lines of the ‘Narcotics Bureau’. “This institutional arrangement would facilitate creation of a national level crime data-base, apart from networking with the States for containing wildlife crime, involving the regional offices of the Ministry”, he said.
Stating that an array of factors including fragmentation of habitats, paucity of staff, over ageing of staff, ban on fresh recruitment, lack of skill and training amongst frontline personnel and officers, unregulated tourism, heavily used infrastructure within the reserves disturb wild animals and tigers, Thiru Raja said that the problems are site-specific, adding that no uniform universal model is possible in a country like ours. We need a holistic approach through revitalizing the status and facilitating them in field implementation, the Minister stressed.
The meeting of the Field Directors of the Tiger Reserves and the Chief Wildlife Wardens of the States has been convened to discuss the measures that need to be taken for enhancing the management of Tiger Reserves in light of the final results of the independent expert monitoring of the reserves, the immediate steps necessary to address the problem of poaching during the monsoon, the implementation of enhanced methodology of tigers census, and other relevant issues.
Members of Parliament belonging to the Forum called 'Tiger And Wilderness Watch' and members of the Task Force, set up to review the management of tiger reserves, also participated in the deliberations.
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