Following the pattern of Uttarakhand Government, Madhya Pradesh is planning to keep its conserved forest areas including tiger reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries open for tourists throughout the year. About two weeks back, Uttrakhand Government announced to keep Jim Corbett and Rajaji Tiger Reserve open for tourists throughout the year. The decision has given a new hope to MP Government for generating revenue with tourism sector. This would help to boost revenue from tourism industry by 100 percent. Sources said State Forest Minister Vijay Shah has sought details over decision from Uttarakhand Government for planning same in MP.

 

On an average, Madhya Pradesh earns around 22 crores annually from conserved forest areas. Due to Covid-19, this figure slashed by several points in the past 1.5 years. At present, conserved forest areas of the State remain open for tourists for nine months. From July 1 to September 30, all tiger reserves, wildlife sanctuaries remain closed during monsoon period. Reason behind this three months’ monsoon closure is given as breeding period of wildlife. However, experts say that there is no fixed breeding time of animals while reserves are closed due to excessive rain, dilapidated roads, overflowing nullah and other infrastructure related issues.

 

They said forest officials wanted to keep rush, voice and human interference away from jungle at least for three months so that introduced concept of closing reserves during monsoon period. After Tourism Department faced excessive loss due to closure of reserves, parks and sanctuaries during corona lockdown, “Buffer me Suffer” Scheme was launched. For past two monsoon seasons, buffer zones of tiger reserves are being opened for tourists. This has helped Tourism Department to compensate loss by certain percentage. Sources said the Government has sought details from Uttarakhand Government to seek legal issues and clearance. After checking documents of Uttrakhand Government, MP Government will start seeking permission of authorities on the same pattern.