Tiger Can Now Roam Freely In UP Forest

SIDDHARTH KALHANS

Lucknow, 23 April

At last the state government has woken up to make the movement of big cats hassle free in the reserved sancturies and national parks.
The state government has proposed to create special corridors in the Dudhwa National Park, Katraniaghat and Kishanpur reserved sancturies for the free movement of Tigers. Of the total Tiger population of the state 60 per cent are found in these three forest areas due to which the state government has declared it as Critical Tiger Habitat. The state government has decided to evict the villages which will fall in the areas declared as Critical Tiger Habitat. In the first phase the villages which are falling in the way of the special tiger corridors will be evicted.
According to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wild Life) DNS Suman, the state government is in the process of issuing notification for the eviction of 10 villages which are within the forest areas of Kishanpur, Dudhwa and Katraniaghat. `There is a provision of this sort in the Wild Life Protection Act 38 V and we are following it', Suman informed this correspondent. He said that after state government completes its formalities the proposal will be sent to the Government of India which will provide necessary funds for the rehabilitation of the villagers of the forest area. The National Tiger Conservation Committee (NTCC) in its recomendations to the state government had asked to evict the areas falling in the Critical Tiger Habitat. As per the recomendations 490.29 square Km in Dudhwa, 203.41 Km in Kishanpur and 400.09 square Km in Katraniaghat needs to be evicted and conserved.
Regarding the special corridors for the Tigers, Suman said that it helps in protecting the big cats as they get disturbed due to human movement on their track. It may be mentioned that in the Katraniaghat reserved sanctury a special track for Tigers was created in the year 2006 and it has shown encouraging results. Due to the Tiger Track which was barred for the human as well as vehicular movement, the number of big cat has remained stable in this area. As per the Tiger census of 2005 there were 77 Tigers in Didhwa followed by 58 in Katraniaghat and 29 in Kishanpur. The latest Tiger census, results of which are to come out officially have indicated that there has been fall in numbers in Kishanpur while in Katraniaghat the number has not decreased. In the Katraniaghat range of forest four special tracks for the Tiger movement has been created which are under constant vigil of the forest staff.