Nagpur: Expressing concern over depleting prey base for tigers in Tipeshwar and Pandharkawda forests, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the forest department and Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) to jointly submit a comprehensive plan for these areas.
While granting six weeks to comply, a division bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Arun Upadhye also asked both respondents to file an affidavit on accommodating ever increasing number of tigers in both areas.
The court’s directives came while hearing two PILs challenging shooting order of problem tigress in Pandharkawda sub-division forest in Yavatmal district. The first PIL was filed by Ghanshyam Thakur and Mumbai-based dentist Dr Sarita Subramaniyam through lawyer Ravindra Khapre, while second was by Dr Jerryl Banait through counsel Tushar Mandlekar. HC had granted stay on the shoot orders on February 6.
In his new application heard on Wednesday, Khapre contended population of tigers was growing in Tipeshwar and Pandharkawda forests following conservation measures. However, the area was inadequate to accommodate the increasing numbers and this had led to their migration in human habitats and conflict.
He pointed out that big area adjacent to both forests was available, but it lacked meadows for herbivores that are actually prey base for tigers. Lack of prey was another reason for them to look for food in human settlements near the forests.
Khapre submitted that the state government had transferred a big area of 31,627.08 hectares to FDCM for development, of which some area was adjacent to Pandharkawda sub-division. He prayed for taking back this tract from FDCM and undertaking its ecological development by the forest department with a view to attract herbivores. According to him, it would not only prevent tigers from looking out for food in villages, but also prevent man-animal conflict and subsequent attacks on humans.
The counsel also demanded prohibition on villagers from entering the core area of forests having presence of carnivorous animals. He demanded scrapping of community forest rights granted to such villagers.
Earlier, the petitioners contended that the tigress (T1), which has been ordered to be shot, is not a habitual human killer and officials had failed to differentiate between chance encounters and habitual human kills and therefore, it wasn’t a fit case for eliminating the tigress. They prayed for constitution of special investigating team (SIT) having top forest and police officials and NGOs to investigate all 10 human deaths in last one and half years.
