City’s wildlife activist Ajay Dubey on Friday urged the Central Government to shift Asiatic lions from Gir forest in Gujarat to Kuno in Madhay Pradesh. In an e-mail addressed to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, the activist said, “I have come to know that you are in Bhopal so I found it to be the right opportunity to demand the compliance of Supreme Court order which says that Gujarat should send Asiatic lions to Madhya Pradesh.”
Dubey further said, “I would like to draw your attention to a serious issue related to the trans-location of the Asiatic lions from Gir, Gujarat to Kuno, Madhya Pradesh. As you are aware that the Asiatic lions are endangered species and only surviving in Gujarat were to be trans-located to Madhya Pradesh as second habitat to avoid any harm done to the species.
This project was initiated by the Wild life Institute, Dehradun, UK and MoEF, GOI in 1993 and Rs 400 crore have already been spent by the Government of MP and Government of India to prepare Kuno for the trans-location. But due to the reluctance of the Gujarat Government to shift Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, the matter went to the Supreme Court of India who had ordered the Gujarat Government and MoEF on April 15, 2013 to shift the Asiatic lions in 6 months to Madhya Pradesh but unfortunately the order of SC has not been complied so far.”