The Madhya Pradesh High Court (MPHC) on Monday while hearing a Public Interest litigation (PIl) over safety and security of 10 tigers around the State capital Bhopal asked the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to submit their replies within four weeks.
Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey who has filed the petition while talking to the mediapersons said, “After not getting any satisfactory response from the MPFD over safety and security of tigers since 2009 when the reports of tiger movement around the city started pouring in, we filed a PIl in the MPHC on November 4. Hearing the petition, the double Bench of MPHC comprising of Justice KK Trivedi and Justice RK Menon issued notice to MPFD and NTCA to furnish their reply over the issue within four weeks.”
Dubey said that he had filed the PIl requesting the court to ensure that the 10 tigers roaming around Bhopal should be given proper safety besides the encroachments on the forest land should be removed wherever the tigers are present on city outskirts.
He has also requested the court for notification of forest and revenue land as Reserve Conservation Unit, on which the proposal has been pending with the forest and revenue departments since 2011.
Referring to the poaching of tiger in Kathotia in 2012, Dubey told newsmen that an empowered committee was constituted at that time and had recommended the safety of striped cats. The suggestions are still gathering dust and are required to be implemented at the earliest, he added.
“Rather than banishing them from the area, these big cats should be offered protection in the same habitation,” he pleaded.
He also alleged that the tiger captured from the city last month was shifted to Panna Tiger reserve without following NTCA guidelines.