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Tiger conservation plans lost in the jungle

“The tiger has suffered from poaching, loss of habitat, and loss of prey,” Rajesh Gopal, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), said.

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NEW DELHI: Along with a sharp drop in tiger numbers revealed in the latest census, a conference of the country’s forest officials also showed that most states had made little progress in implementing steps for wildlife conservation.

“The tiger has suffered from poaching, loss of habitat, and loss of prey,” Rajesh Gopal, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), said.

The two-day conference of forest officials has highlighted several aspects in which no action has been taken. The NTCA’s first meeting in 2006 had said “the process requires to be completed within six months from the start of the coming financial year”. But little has been achieved.

Gopal said the Wildlife Crime Bureau has been set up. But many states are yet to give details about poaching.

What’s more, many forest guards and other field level, frontline staff posts lie empty. There are about 17,500 vacant posts. Guards are badly paid and under-armed, giving them little incentive. This, despite the prime minister taking up the matter with the chief ministers, he said.

Most states have not given plans for relocation of villages in core areas of tiger reserves and could not get central assistance. Gopal also asked them to fulfil the legal requirement of preparing reserve-specific tiger conservation plans and submit at least “indicative” plans by March for the funds to be released.

The deadline for “buffer zones” around tiger reserves, another requirement, was also long past and he urged the states to hurry up.

Most states have not constituted steering committees, except Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram. And only three—Kerala, Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh—have formed Tiger Conservation Foundation.

Valmik Thapar, advisor to prime minister Manmohan Singh on wildlife, blamed it on “bad governance, a ridiculously brainless bureaucracy, a ministry of environment and forests that has malfunctioned for five years, and a PM with honourable intentions but badly advised by his own office”.

s_rajesh@dnaindia.net

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