The Dugadda and Kotdi ranges of the lansdowne forest division will soon be part of buffer zone of the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), Ramnagar.
The Government of India has already given its nod for inclusion ofthese two ranges of the lansdowne forest division into the buffer zone of the CTR, as the officials concerned of the CTR, Ramnagr have said. With the Government of India giving its clearance in this regard, the proposal of inclusion of Dugadda and Kotdi ranges of the lansdowne forest division into the buffer zone of the CTR is now under the consideration of the State level committee set up by the State Government, further said the officials concerned of the CTR, Ramnagar.
The proposal of inclusion of Dugadda and Kotdi ranges of the lansdowne forest division into the buffer zone of the CTR is now under the consideration of the State level committee, said Surendra Mehra, Director, CTR, Ramnagar, while talking to The Pioneer in an exclusive interview.
Subsequently, after due consultation with the stakeholders including public and completion of other necessary formalities in this regard, these two ranges of the lansdowne forest division, will be included into the CTR’s buffer zone, he added. The aforesaid ranges including the Kotdi and Dugadda are adjacent to the Sonanadi zone of the CTR which is one of the major tourist attractions.
The interesting fact is that inclusion of the aforesaid two ranges from the lansdowne forest division into the buffer zone of the CTR, can be described as a welcome development from tourism point of view. As the tour operators here believe, inclusion of these aforesaid ranges from the lansdowne forest division into the CTR would provide an opportunity to the tourists to visit in a larger area of this entire wildlife habitat of Uttarakhand at a time.
It is worth mention here that the CTR was established in 1936 in Nainital district’s Ramnagar area. It is spread in an areas of 1288.32 square kilometers and comprises the Corbett National Park, the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary and the Reserved Forest. The area which are presently opened for the tourists in CTR include Dhikala zone, Bijrani zone, Sonanadi zone, Domunda zone and Jhirna Interestingly, Jhirna zone of the CTR remains open for the visitors round the year, while tourist season in rest of the aforesaid zones begins generally from October 15 and continues till June 30 .