Representative image of lions.
Credit: iStock Photo
Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to announce that the 16th Asiatic lion census is to be undertaken at Sasan Gir National Park in Junagadh district.
PM Modi will be visiting Gujarat for three days.
Officials said that as per the plan shared by the union government, the prime minister will announce the 16th Asiatic lion population estimation on March 3, the last day of his visit.
The counting usually occurs during April-May every five years. In the last count, in 2020, the population was estimated to be 674, recording a growth of nearly 29 per cent compared to 523 in 2015 census.
These lions are spread over 30,000 square kilometers of protected forest and agro-pastoral landscape of nine districts of Saurashtra. The state government on Saturday released a detailed note on "Project Lion" for which the centre has allocated Rs 2,900 crore for conservation of lions.
The government mentioned that Barda sanctuary has evolved as a "second home" for the lions over the last couple of years as part of the "Project Lion" and as on today, 17 lions, including 6 adult lions and 11 cubs, reside in the Barda area.
"Project Lion encompasses a wide range of strategies, including habitat and population management, wildlife health, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, local community participation, tourism development, scientific research, training, eco-development, and biodiversity conservation," the statement read.
The prime minister is also likely to lay the foundation stone of the National Referral Centre for Wildlife Health in New Pipaliya in Junagadh, which is spread over 20 hectares of land.
According to government sources, the prime minister is also likely to release the Riverine Dolphin Estimation Report, an exercise undertaken under "Project Dolphin."
On Sunday, the PM is also visiting Vantara, a massive animal shelter, set up by Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation in Jamnagar.