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Concern over happenings in Project Tiger areas

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: Shrinking habitats and a sharp decline in the number of tigers in the country’s Project Tiger sanctuaries came in for appraisal at a two-day all-India meeting of field directors of tiger reserves held on Wednesday and Thursday in the vicinity of the Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan.

The meeting, a rare occasion with participation by all the Project Tiger functionaries in the country, assumed significance as it was the first meeting of this kind after the formation of the Tiger Conservation Authority six months ago.

In fact, the Ranthambhore National Park in Sawai Madhopur district, visited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 after reports of tigers disappearing altogether from Sariska Project Tiger, proved to be the right locale for such a meeting, also attended by both the Union Ministers of State for Environment and Forests, S. Raghupathy and Namonarain Meena.

The meeting, attended by a majority of the field directors of the country’s 28 Project Tiger reserves, besides the director of the Project Tiger and Member- Secretary National Tiger Conservation Authority, Rajesh Gopal, noted with concern the habitat decline in 11 Project Tiger areas, including Nameri, Baxa, Manas, Indravati and Dumpa, between 1997 and 2002. The period also found the loss of 10 sq km area of forest cover in 21 Project Tiger reserves.

Addressing the inaugural session on Wednesday, Mr. Raghupathy said a recent study by the Wildlife Institute of India and the Project Tiger using micro scientific techniques revealed the extinction of tigers in as many as 97 districts in the country during the past 100-150 years.

A review of the policies and schemes for conservation was called for in the wake of reports of increased poaching and trade in wildlife forms, he said.

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