The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : PM's chance encounter with `Lady of the lake'

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

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PM's chance encounter with `Lady of the lake'

Sunny Sebastian

Manmohan's first sighting of a tiger in the wild Tigers were also sighted at Guda and Sakri as the rising sun lit up the mountain-shadowed Park and the mighty Ranthambhore Fort.

RANTHAMBHORE: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who visited Ranthambhore National Park on Tuesday morning with his wife Gurusharan Kaur spotted a tiger within 25 minutes of his nearly three hour stay there.

Riding in a covered jeep Dr. Singh sighted the tigress Park authorities call the "Lady of the lake;" named thus as she stays close to the rivulet in the Jhalra region. He watched for 10 minutes as the 15-year-old tigress stood were waiting for her morning meal. Her two six-month-old cubs were somewhere in the vicinity.

"This is the first time I have sighted a tiger," said Dr. Singh with a smile. Nobody would have thought that it as his first encounter with the tiger in the wild. Not at least, going by his concern for the big cat. "We saw the cubs as well before the Prime Minister arrived but they moved into a nala," Mangilal Phoolchand, the forester who was present at the site near Kamaldhar region, said.

Dr. Singh and the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, travelled in a convoy of four vehicles on the Jogi Mahal-Jhalra-Nalghati track in the Park. The VVIP visitors, who were inside the sanctuary from 5.45 a.m. to 9 a.m., were served tea and snacks at Jogi Mahal, the haveli where Rajiv Gandhi had celebrated the New Year day of 1985 with family and friends.

"Today was a good day for sightings," Deputy Field Director Govind Sagar Bhardwaj, who accompanied the Prime Minister, said. Tigers were also sighted at Guda and Sakri as the rising sun lit up the mountain-shadowed Park and the mighty Ranthambhore Fort.

"The number of tigers may have come down. Many of them are also walking out of our forest. Yet we have enough to show the visitors," proud Phoolchand remarked.

The Minister for Environment and Forests, Namonarain Meena, announced the setting up of a regional museum of national parks at Sawai Madhopur, which would focus on the ecology of the country's desert region.

It would enhance the tourism potential of Sawai Madhopur, Mr. Meena said.

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PM's chance encounter with `Lady of the lake'