Madhya Pradesh Forest minister Sartaj Singh is confident that the state would reclaim its 'tiger state' tag in the next census.
Singh while talking to media persons said that number of tigers has increased significantly in the state and we are all set to emerge number one in terms of tigers. Singh claimed that he is getting reports of encouraging increase in number of tigers at Panna and Kanha Tiger reservers, the number of tiger cubs in other reserves across the state is also looking up. He further said total number of tigers in state might go close to 300 in next census.
According to the last tiger census there were only 257 tigers left in the state's six tiger reserves- Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Bori-Satpura, Sanjay Dubri, and Pench. Singh said they had objected to the figures last census released by WII and National Tiger Conservation Authourity (NTCA). He said that WII and NTCA had admitted their mistake after conducting re-counting in Kanha Tiger Reserve. "But they said figure cannot be changed now after it being released," said Singh adding that even the figure of 300 tiger in Karnataka was not correct. So they are very confident about reclaiming tag of 'tiger state'.
On the allegation of poaching being the main reason behind decline in number of tigers, Singh said Madhya Pradesh was at number four in terms of tiger death in 2012. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttarakhand are leading the list. last year nearly 12 tigers died many of them died natural deaths or accidents because most of the cases carcases were found. He added that poachers do not leave body behind.
An NGO has submitted its report to Gujarat forest department that has stated that lions should not be translocated to Kuno as Madhya Pardesh is known to be a major poaching ground and the state has lost 453 tigers out of 710 (63% loss) in a decade. The state as per the 2011 census has only 257 tigers. The loss of tiger in Madhya Pradesh was 50 per cent of the total loss of the tigers across the world.
Singh said these figures are inflated and they object it in SC. "We have one very basic argument one species should be restrict to only one geographical area. So lion should be translocated to other area and several surveys were done before finalising Kuno as second home of lion," he said.