Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis believes that the adoption of scientific prospective and maintaining natural habitat for tiger conservation will help Maharashtra to become the first State in the country in terms of tiger population. Fadnavis made this statement during the International Tiger Day programme conducted by Maharashtra Forest Department at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Nagpur on Wednesday. Fadnavis further informed that the State has formulated five-point plan to take this work forward. According to 2022 tiger census, India has 75 per cent of the world’s tiger population and Maharashtra ranks third in the number of tigers in India. “Maharashtra has 444 tigers in its six tiger reserves and as per the latest tiger count the number has crossed 600 mark. Due to the important steps taken for tiger conservation in the last two decades, Maharashtra is on its way to becoming the first State in the country,” he added.

 

“Tigers are the centre of the natural habitat and food chain. Their conservation protects the environment and forests. Therefore, the tiger conservation is utmost important work for the State and the Forest Department is doing it scientifically,” said CM. Fadnavis further said that Forest Department has relocated villages from the core areas of six tiger reserves in the State and new buffer zones have been demarcated for better tiger conservation. Appreciating the AI-based early warning system to curb man-animal conflict, Fadnavis said, “The AI based early warning system which is pioneered in Maharashtra will soon implemented in India and the countries with tiger population can also adopt this technology to curb man-animal conflicts.”

 

The State has formulated five principles for tiger conservation, namely, reducing human-wildlife conflict, implementing the Tiger Habitat Green Livelihoods Mission, formulating a CSR policy to provide CSR funds for tiger conservation, creating employment by formulating a sustainable tourism policy, and providing necessary funds for forest conservation and conservation while increasing tourism. “The State Government has taken a pledge to plant 300 crore trees and to prepare a maximum number of seedlings.

 

For this, the Government has established five tissue culture laboratories in the State,” said Forest Minister Ganesh Naik during the programme. Number of MoUs were signed during the event in presence of the Chief Minister. Forest Department signed MoU with IRCTC to promote sustainable wildlife tourism, with HDFC Bank, Aaroha Group, Mahindra Holidays and Resort India Limited. Minister of State for Education Dr Pankaj Bhoyar, Minister of State for Finance and Planning Adv Ashish Jaiswal, Chief Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister Praveen Pardeshi, Additional Chief Secretary of the Forest Department Milind Mhaiskar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) Srinivas Rao along with representatives from Cambodia, Bhutan and Bangladesh were also present on the occasion. Earlier, Principal Conservator of Forests M S Reddy gave the introductory remarks. Chief Economic Advisor to the Chief Minister Praveen Pardeshi gave information about various measures taken for tiger conservation. Conservator of Forests of Nagpur Division G Guruprasad proposed a vote of thanks.