Experts begin work to define Dholpur tiger reserve boundaries

Jaipur: An expert committee constituted to define the boundaries of the proposed Dholpur Tiger Reserve (DTR) started its inspection on Tuesday.
The committee will decide criteria for identifying the core or critical tiger habitat and the buffer or peripheral area around the proposed reserve, after which it will prepare a draft notification.
A committee member, who wished not to be named, said, “There are mining activities happening in the periphery of the proposed reserve. After on-ground inspection, the committee will propose to include the areas that are safe for tiger habitat. The land parcels along Chambal river, which were earlier excluded, will also be included in the reserve.”
As per the primary proposal, the tiger reserve will be 1,058 sq km, including 368 sq km of core and 690 sq km of buffer areas. Of the proposed core area, 197 sq km and 170 sq km fall under Karauli and Dholpur districts respectively. A small portion of forest block in Bharatpur district has also been included in the proposed tiger reserve.