The Madhya Pradesh government has notified Ratapani forest in Raisen district as a tiger reserve in the state, officials said on Tuesday.It is the eighth tiger reserve in the state after Kanha, Satpura, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Sanjay Dubri, Panna and Veerangana Durgavati.The state government issued the notification for Ratapani reserve on Monday.With the formation of the tiger reserve, wildlife can be managed in a better way by receiving a budget from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), an official release said.The total area of the Ratapani Tiger Reserve will be 1,271.465 square kilometres, it said.Following directives of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, the Ratapani forest has been declared as the eighth tiger reserve of the state, the release said.The Ratapani Tiger Reserve has the core area of 763.812 sq km and buffer area of 507.653 sq km, it said.Nine villages, geographically located in the tiger reserve, are not included in the core area in the notification of the sanctuary, the release said.With the formation of the Ratapani Tiger Reserve, its entire core area is within the boundary of the Ratapani Tiger Sanctuary. This will not change the current rights of the villagers, it said.Ratapani forest is located in Raisen district, adjoining state capital Bhopal.On December 1, the NTCA's technical committee approved the proposal to designate Madhav National Park in MP's Shivpuri district also as a tiger reserve. The state government is yet to issue a notification for it.The Kuno National Park is the only abode of cheetahs in the country. It is located in Sheopur district and is close to the Madhav National Park. As per the 'Status of Tigers: Co-predators & Prey in India-2022' report released by the NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India, the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh is estimated to be 785, the highest in the country, followed by Karnataka-563 and Uttarakhand-560.
