Nationally, tiger numbers have increased to 2,967, as per the estimate report released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. (Source: File Photo)Senior officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that overlooked the tiger census in Chhattisgarh have said that they are not “surprised” at the drop in numbers of the big cats in the state’s tiger reserves, and highlighted poor protection and the need for an improvement in habitat in the state.
Nationally, tiger numbers have increased to 2,967, as per the estimate report released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Chhattisgarh was one state where the numbers dropped drastically – from 46 in 2014 to an estimated 19 tigers in 2018.
Read | Chhattisgarh: Its count down to less than half, state looks at Panna
Officials said in at least one tiger reserve — Indravati – law and order in the form of Left-wing insurgency in Bijapur district of Bastar, where the reserve is located, was a big problem in habitat maintenance and data collection.
A senior NTCA official told The Indian Express that while there were some lacunae that could reasonably be identified, it was difficult to reach a categorical conclusion so far. “When population size is small, it is very difficult to make a comment on the trend in population…(or) arrive at a permanent conclusion,” the official said.
According to the official, what makes it more difficult is that a detailed analysis, looking into concerns from one reserve and state to the next, is still in the works. “Detailed analysis will take one more month,” this official said. “The report that we have right now is only for ceremonial purpose – it doesn’t have detailed, tiger reserve-wise analysis. So we have to wait.”
The official said that even as teams from the NTCA, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Forest Department carried out the three stages of the methodology for ascertaining numbers, there were always signs for worry. “There were indicators right from the beginning,” the official said. “For example, we carry out phase 4 monitoring every year, where our objective is to get the minimum number of tigers. That was carried out for Achanakmar and Udanti Sitanadi (tiger reserves). There were only two tigers in Udanti Sitanadi, and one of them was poached. The position in Indravati (reserve) was unclear, and we could capture only five individuals in Achanakmar.”
Also read | Palamau, Jharkhand; Buxa, West Bengal: At reserves where no tigers registered, shock, denials
“We had clear indications that protection is not good; (that) habitat conditions need to be improved a lot.” The official said a tiger reserve should ideally have 800 to 1,200 sq km of habitat to support between 80 and 100 tigers. The tiger population in that size – 80 to 100 in core area – is in a disturbance-free area, “so that size will sustain the population over a long period. (But) we don’t have any source area like that in Chhattisgarh,” the official said.
“If protection is improved in Chhattisgarh, and if herbivore population is made better, then tigers from neighbouring areas will come and colonise there without problems,” the official added.
The ruling Congress in the state has, meanwhile, accused the previous BJP government of being lax in its focus on wildlife conservation and blamed the reduction in tiger numbers on the previous Raman Singh government.
Party’s chief spokesperson in the state, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, said that as many as 15 tiger hides were recovered during the BJP reign and called it an indicator of “poaching under government protection.”
