Telangana’s Kawal a corridor not territory to any tiger

HYDERABAD: Telangana’s Kawal tiger reserve, which is spread across an area of 2,015.35 sq km, does not house even a single tiger now despite more than 20 big cats entering the forest since its formation in 2012.
The Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India report released on Tuesday reiterated the concerns raised by wildlife conservationists in the state. The report mentioned that the tiger reserve only acts as a corridor between Maharashtra’s Tadoba and Chhattisgarh’s Indravati tiger reserve. The reserve has connectivity with Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve (100 km) in the north and Indravati tiger reserve (150 km) in the east.
The report revealed that Kawal is in need of conservation. “Repopulating this reserve is only possible through restorative management efforts such as reduction of resource extraction, incentivized voluntary relocation of human habitation, and control of poaching,” the report read.
With two instances of poaching in Kawal last year, wildlife conservationist Diya Sur Banerjee has filed a PIL urging the court to declare inaction of the state and Centre in the case as illegal and arbitrary. “The dispersing tiger population coming from Maharashtra is vanishing from here because the reserve is demarcated into three core areas and three buffer zones. There are three different levels of management although it is just one tiger reserve, and no one no effort has been taken on relocation of villages from core areas,” said Banerjee.
.While informing that certain issues are being addressed, the forest department said that there is movement of tigers in the reserve.