JOIN US The Centre on Wednesday reiterated before the Supreme Court that the number of tigers has risen in the country, a claim disputed by conservationists.
Additional Solicitor General Indira Jai Singh told a bench of Justices A K Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar that the population of tigers was 1,411 according to the 2006 survey, and their number had gone up to 1,706 in the 2010 survey.
Senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, appearing for Tehelka, a PIL petitioner, claimed that the government position was wrong.
He said the rise in the number of the big cats between the two census was only because the tigers of Sundarbans were not counted during the 2006 census. Singh submitted that she had reliable statistics on the subject and would present relevant records before the court.
Other advocates also said that the variation in number of tigers was due to different methods of counting the big cats.
During the hearing, the bench extended the ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves. The court said that it would first hear all the parties in the case and then pass its order on the Centre’s September 26 submission of fresh guidelines seeking the court’s permission to allow tourism up to 20 per cent of the core tiger reserve areas across the country.
This was opposed to its previous stand seeking a total ban on tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves. The apex court, as an interim measure on July 24, said that till further orders, no tourists should venture into core zones of 41 tigers reserves.
“Current tourism zones where only tourist visits are permitted and there are no consumptive uses, tiger density and recruitment does not seem to be impacted. For this reason, permitting up to 20 per cent of the core/critical tiger habitat as a tourism zone should not have an adverse effect on the tiger biology needs,” the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) said, showing a change of heart.
“It is recommended that a maximum 20 per cent of the core/critical tiger habitat usage (not exceeding the present usage) for regulated, low-impact tourist visitation may be permitted,” it said.
However, the new guidelines said that no new tourism infrastructure should be created in the core areas while existing residential infrastructure should be strictly regulated to ensure low ecological impacts.