Tiger Reserve at Nuapara gets Centre’s approval

The Tiger Reserve has been proposed at Seemabeda of Nuapara located in adjacent to Chhattisgarh border. This expansion in tiger corridor will give fresh impetus to the conservation, protection and flourishing of tiger population

A team of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Thursday surveyed Chhattisgarh and Odisha as the Union Government gave nod to the new Tiger Reserve at Nuapara abutting the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR). The NTCA officials also convened an inter-state meeting of Forest Officials to establish coordination between both States in order to control forest and wildlife crimes. The Tiger Reserve has been proposed at Seemabeda of Nuapara located in adjacent to Chhattisgarh border. This expansion in tiger corridor will give fresh impetus to the conservation, protection and flourishing of tiger population. As the area is notorious for wildlife poachers/smugglers, authorities are aiming to stop this illicit business by declaring the Seemabeda a protected forest.

Prior to Chhattisgarh-Odisha, NTCA team also held such coordination meetings between the forest/field officials of Jharkhand-UP, Maharashtra-Karnataka, and Bihar-UP. A group discussion between the field officers and lower rung forest officials was held at the inter-state meeting in Nuapara. The officials deliberated on establishing telecommunication between the states to share intelligence on wildlife crimes and to monitor movement of the wild animals.

Their prime focus was on monitoring the movement of elephants, which often moves between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Coordination between the field officers of both the states will help tracking movement of elephants with better accuracy. The meeting had the presence of NTCA Additional Director General Anup Kumar Nayak, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Surendra Mehra, Regional Office Nagpur AIG Hemant Kamdi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Atul Shukla, APCCF Wildlife JACS Rao, USTR Field Director KK Bisen, CCF Sanjeeta Gupta, and Divisional Forest Officers of Gariaband and Mahasamund. It’s to be noted that USTR was left out of the tiger estimate exercise due to Naxal presence in the area. As a result, the tiger count in Chhattisgarh plunged drastically from 46 to 19. Declaration of tiger reserve in the adjoining forest will not just help in monitoring the wildlife crime, but also make it easier to keep better count of the tigers.