Besides boosting air connectivity in his native region Gwalior, Union Minister for Civil Aviation has shifted attention to boost bio-diversity in Shivpuri, part of his former Lok Sabha constituency.
Couple of days ago, the Union Minister had sent a missive to his Cabinet colleague Bhupendra Yadav’s, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change; seeking re-introduction of tigers at Madhav National Park, Shivpuri.
The Minister quoted a plan forwarded by park director to Forest Dept in MP recently in which the officer has proposed re-introduction of tigers in the park which entails a budget of Rs 106 cr for the next five years.
Once a reserve park of erstwhile Scindia family, the Minister said the area had been an abode to striped felines for well over 200 years. A wildlife census had showed presence of four tigers in the region in year 1980, 1981 and 1987 and a fully grown 8.5 ft big cat was spotted in the area in year 1996, wrote Scindia referring to official records.
The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that after re-introduction of tigers in 90s, the park had 10-15 big cats and the population surged but due to ill-maintenance and negligence the tiger safari had closed down in subsequent years.
Following a survey from Wildlife Protection Society of India in year 1999 for assessing the park as a suitable tiger habitat, Govt of MP too had formed a committee for re-introduction of tigers in year 2005, claimed the union minister.
In this regard the present director too has chalked out an action plan recently with a plan outlay of Rs 106 cr, said the minister urging his cabinet colleague for sanctioning the project and ensuring that necessary infrastructure is made available at Shivpuri for re-introduction of the tigers.
A wildlife census released in the year 2019 had put the state on number one spot in the country with the maximum 526 tigers. The state also reports high tiger mortalities and in most cases, the reason for the death of striped cats is listed as territorial fight which vindicates the space crunch in tiger reserves, a senior officer of the Forest Dept said.