After decade-long wait, Chhattisgarh to get its 4th tiger reserve

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government on Wednesday decided to declare a new tiger reserve covering areas of Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary in the state to promote eco-tourism and create jobs, an official said.

This will be the fourth tiger reserve in the state after Indravati (in Bijapur district), Udanti-Sitanadi (Gariaband) and Achanakmar (Mungeli). The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had given its in-principle approval to the project in 2014.

The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai here at his official residence, he said.

Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve will be the country’s third largest tiger reserve spread over 2,829.387 sq km. Nagarjunasagar Srisailam tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh is India’s largest such reserve with an area of 3,296.31 sq km, followed by Assam’s Manas tiger reserve, spread over 2,837.1 sq km, he said.

The creation of the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve will lead to the development of eco-tourism and generate employment opportunities for villagers living in its core and buffer areas, a government statement said.

As per the recommendation of the State Wildlife Board and the consent of NTCA, Union Ministry of Forest and Climate Change, the cabinet has decided to notify Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve spanning over an area of 2,829.387 sq km, it said.

The reserve will include areas of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and the Tamor Pingla sanctuary spread in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur, Korea, Surajpur and Balrampur districts, the statement said.

The state’s Forest and Climate Change Department has been authorised for further action into the matter, it added.

Additional budget will be received from the national tiger project so that new livelihood development works can be undertaken in villages of the region, the statement said.

Notably, the Chhattisgarh High Court had last month granted four weeks to the state government to clarify its stand for declaring the area as a tiger reserve over a public interest litigation filed by a Madhya Pradesh-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey.

In 2012, the state wildlife board during then Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh had decided to declare the combined area of Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Sanctuary as a tiger reserve, Dubey told PTI.

After two years, in August 2014, the state sent a proposal to the NTCA for necessary action. The NTCA gave its in-principle approval in October 2014 for the creation of the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla tiger reserve and sought a final proposal from the state government, but surprisingly, it allegedly remained pending for the next four to five years, he said.

Dubey said he had filed a PIL in the Chhattisgarh High Court in September 2019 alleging inaction by the state in notifying the tiger reserve, despite the NTCA approving it in 2014.

Subsequently in December 2019, during a meeting of the state wildlife board then chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, it was decided to declare Guru Ghasidas National Park as a tiger reserve, he said.

The final approval for the creation of tiger reserve was granted by the NTCA in 2021 but despite that no further action was being taken by the state authority, he said.

During the hearing on the PIL in the HC on July 15 this year, the division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal said “it appears that the state was granted time on March 27 and April 23, 2024, twice to inform this court regarding the stand of the state for declaring the area as a Tiger Reserve. As prayed, four weeks and no further time is granted to the state counsel”, Dubey said quoting the court order.

Following the HC order, the cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the creation of the tiger reserve, he added.

The forests of Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla, located in the northern part of the state, act as a corridor between the Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh) and Palamu (Jharkhand) tiger reserves. The new tiger reserve will preserve the natural habitat of tigers and promote their safety, he added.

Official sources said Guru Ghasidas National Park was declared as a tiger reserve during the previous Congress rule but could not be notified. Its notification apparently got delayed as the region had coal and methane gas reserves, they added.