14.9.10

Maharashtra to get 2 more tiger reserves

Saving the tiger has received a fillip as two more wildlife sanctuaries in Vidarbha are to get the tiger reserve status. Maharashtra already has four reserves at Pench, Tadoba-Andhari and Melghat in Vidarbha as well as Sahyadri in western Maharashtra. Now, Nagzira-Navegaon and Bor forests will get the same status, taking the number of reserves in the state to six. Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh announced this on the sidelines of an interactive meeting organised by the Nag Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce (NVCC) on Monday. Nagzira-Navegaon is over 125 km away and Bor just 65 km away from Nagpur. The former is carved out of two forests (Nagzira and Navegaon) linked by a corridor, each spread in an area of around 150 sq km each. There are around 10 tigers in and around Nagzira and a little chance of any in Navegaon, which has a sizeable population of leopards. Bor, spread in an area of 62 sq km, is reported to have six tigers. Once declared a tiger reserve these forests will get more funds from the Centre and it will also lead to better management, with conservation focusing on the big cat. Focused efforts on saving the tiger will also help in better conservation as the entire food chain from the herbivores onwards will have to be protected. In what may add to Nagpur’s importance for conservationists, Ramesh said the first regional office of the National Tiger Conservation Authority would be opened here next year. On the proposed threat to Nagzira from the Adani power plant in Tiroda, whose extension will bring it just 8.5 km from Nagzira boundary, Ramesh said 164 hectare forest land needed by Adani will not be granted.

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