Greater Panna Landscape Council headed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Iqbal Singh Bains has approved Greater Panna Landscape Management Plan as part of Ken-Betwa Link Project to be executed in 11 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This is one of the unique conservations of wildlife and biodiversity in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) and surrounding areas. The plan has been prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun. Center, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Governments will be spending Rs 3,186 crores till year 2032 on this project. Central Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Central Water Ministry, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Forest Department will be funding the project jointly. A total of 18 representatives of Center, MP and UP governments are members of this council.

 

The plan includes habitat development on 47,000 sq km of land and corridor protection for conservation of tiger, vulture and crocodile within ten years. The plan includes forest areas of Panna, Ranipur, and proposed Nauradehi-Durgavati Tiger Reserve and there are around 150 to 200 tigers and around 90 crocodiles and four vultures count.

In order to execute the Greater Panna Landscape Management Plan and better monitoring, an Integrated Research and Learning Center (IRLC) will be set up in district Panna. Sagar, Damoh, Chhattarpur, Narsinghpur, Panna, Katni, Satna, Rewa, Banda, Chitrakoot districts will be included in Greater Panna Landscape.Talking about the project, J N Kansotia, ACS Forest Department, Madhya Pradesh, said that the Center, MP and UP joint council has approved that Greater Panna Landscape Plan. The council formed by Center is headed by Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary and this plan is part of the Ken-Betwa Project. He said that conservation plan for endangered species like tiger, vulture, crocodile will be held in next ten years with cost of Rs 3,186 crores.

 

The goal of the GPL and the council is to ensure a ‘win-win’ situation for conservation through integration with the development process based on a balanced approach and considering the diverse stakes. The broad objectives are to enable betterment of habitat, protection, and management for flagship species viz. tiger, vulture, and gharial in the landscape; to consolidate the landscape for overall biodiversity conservation through spatial prioritisation and well-being of the forest dependent communities; and to provide species-specific and site-specific monitoring strategies under the integrated landscape management in context with feedback loop and adaptive management options. Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP), the first inter-linking of rivers project under National Perspective Plan (NPP) taken for implementation, would be a game-changer for the socio-economic prosperity of the Bundelkhand region, which faces recurrent drought situation. The project is aimed at not only providing water security in the Bundelkhand but also ensuring the overall conservation of the region and specially for landscape dependent species such as tiger, vulture and crocodile.