SOIRU VELIP | NT
PANAJI
Even though environmentalists are pitching for declaration of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve because of the presence of tigers, officials of the state forest department have said that so far they are in the stage of collecting more data to make a strong case in order to give push to the proposal.
The recent report about the presence of five tigers, which include a male, two females and two cubs in the Mhadei region in the Western Ghats area has raised hope among the environmentalists.
It may be recalled that in January 2011, government officials and a senior environmentalist had found pugmarks of an adult tiger and a cub, which further confirmed the presence of tiger in the Mhadei region after the forest department captured the big cat in a camera trap in April 2013. With the recent detection of five tigers by way of the camera-trap technique, the proposal for declaring Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve is likely to get a major boost.
A senior official Tuesday told this daily that the department is in the stage of collecting data, which may provide further boost to the efforts of the department, in case they trace frequent movement of the tigers in the region. The official said that the decision on moving a proposal to declare a region as a tiger reserve has to be taken by the State Wildlife Board, headed by the Chief Minister.
The official said that a discussion was held on the proposal during a meeting of the State Wildlife Board, held in October 2016. He said that the role of the forest department is to place evidences on record whereas the decision in this regard has to be ultimately taken by the state government.
The official said that presently the department is not in a position to say whether the tigers that have been detected have migrated from Karnataka or not. “However, it would be clear when we collect more data through our new technique,” he said. “We have put in our best efforts to monitor the tiger movements in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary. We have planned our strategy to protect and conserve the tigers,” he said.
Sources said that 20 camera traps have been installed in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary and added that the department is planning to install such camera traps in all the other wildlife sanctuaries in the state in the next two years.
In June 2011, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had advised the then state government to propose the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve, urging Goa to seriously consider the proposal because Mhadei is a ‘contiguous tiger landscape’ to Bhimgad wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka and to Anshi Dandeli tiger reserve, which has around 35 tigers, in the neighbouring state.
Then Union minister for Environment and Forests had noted that the protected areas of Goa and the contiguous forests in Karnataka and Maharashtra are possibly some of the best tiger habitats in the Western Ghats and are in need of protection, suggesting the expansion of the tiger reserve beyond the existing Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, as tigers are a conservation-dependent species.
Furthermore, on July 22, 2011, National Board of Wildlife (NBW) member and conservationist, Prerna Singh Bindra, publicly supported the proposal to declare Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve, stating that it will help secure the entire region’s water resources.
It may also be noted that in August 2011, there was a public announcement that ‘in-principle’ approval was accorded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of a new tiger reserve in the Mhadei sanctuary. Under Section 38V of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, the Goa government was then authorised to notify Mhadei wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve.