Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) will soon launch ‘Tigers Outside Tiger Reserves’ project in 17 states of the country, including Maharashtra, with an aim to to reduce man-animal conflicts. National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has prepared final draft of the project and it will be announced by Central Government soon. In the recently held 27th meeting of NTCA in Bhopal, members of the committee discussed about implementation of the project. Bhupender Yadav, Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change and chairman of the committee highlighted that 30 per cent of India’s tigers are outside tiger reserves which need to be effectively managed, especially with respect to conflict situations.

 

In the meeting, expert members also discussed formation of quick reaction teams (QRT) in all affected and sensitive areas and said that teams should get proper training to handle man-animal conflicts in and outside tiger reserves. Out of 58 tiger reserves in 18 tiger range states, 38 have moderate to high density of tigers wherein dispersal of tiger outside reserves is obvious. Based on the data collected from the states regarding human-tiger conflict situations in the last three years, there are around 80 divisions across the country with areas adjoining moderate to high density tiger reserves. On a pilot basis, the project proposal will focus on these areas wherein human-tiger and co-predators’ conflict is reported. The project will be implemented for three years from 2025-26 to 2027-28 in 80 forest divisions. An estimated amount of Rs 88.7 crore is required with Rs 36.15 crore for 2025-26, Rs 26.15 crore for 2026-27 and Rs 26.40 crore for 2027-28, stated the final draft.

 

The project will be implemented by NTCA at the Central Government level and through the Chief Wild Life Warden (CWLW) at the State level. The fund will be placed with the State nodal officer of Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) or concerned Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and will then be given to the concerned divisional forest officer by the Forest Department, it stated. The demand of corridor management in Maharashtra is gaining voice from last some time in the conservation fraternity due to increase in man-animal conflicts, especially in Chandrapur, Brahmapuri, Pune and Nagpur forest divisions. Due to rapidly increasing tiger population in Chandrapur and Brahmapuri divisions, the conflicts have been on the rise in recent time. Majority of incidents took place outside protected areas or in corridors. The Forest Department keeps vigil inside the core and buffer areas of tiger reserves but a need for intensive monitoring in outside tiger reserves is being felt and this policy is going to address the same in near future, it is hoped.