TBM Staff - Mumbai During the recent meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), it was decided to keep the core areas of tiger reserves inviolate, reports Jayshri Nandi for Hindustan Times
“Chaired the 21st National Tiger Conservation Authority meeting at Tadoba Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra in the presence of Shri @AshwiniKChoubey. To strengthen tiger conservation, the meeting decided to keep the core areas inviolate and focus on stakeholders’ capacity building,” tweeted Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav.
“The meeting also decided to provide greater thrust to technology and to work harder for inclusive infrastructure growth in sync with wildlife conservation and promoting diversification of tourism,” he added.
Yadav also tweeted that the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife in its 69th meeting on Friday recommended potable water supply proposals in Bihar, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir to overcome the difficulty faced by the local people, pilgrims and tourists.
These proposals involve diversion of forest land.
“Considering the requirements of connectivity for the remote villages in Jammu and Kashmir, SC-NBWL in its meeting today recommended road proposals under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana with mitigation measures,”Yadav added in a tweet.
“We have decided to not allow any new construction in the core areas of tiger reserves. Of course, this was always the mandate of the Wild Life (Protection) Act but now we plan to implement it in letter and spirit. Core areas will be for thriving and breeding of tigers and other wildlife alone. In many tiger reserves, there have been constructions in core areas. Take for example the core area of Corbett where some tourism infrastructure has come up. That will be completely prohibited,” said a senior official of NTCA. (Source: Hindustan Times)
The NTCA has also decided to put in efforts to move away from tiger centric tourism. “Now we have a situation where people come to see only tigers to the forests and if there is no sighting, they are disappointed. But we want to focus on other features like birds, biodiversity, local culture around tiger reserves also,” the official explained.
