India’s newest Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh

In News 

• Recently, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved the Chhattisgarh government’s proposal to declare the combined areas of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.
  • NTCA is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, established in 2005 for strengthening tiger conservation

About 

• Location: Northern part of Chhattisgarh, bordering Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. 
• This will be the fourth Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, after the Udanti-Sitanadi, Achanakmar, and Indravati Reserves.

• The NTCA’s 11th Technical Committee approved the proposal under Section 38V(1) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Background 

• The Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary was added to the Sarguja Jashpur Elephant Reserve in 2011.
• The Guru Ghasidas National Park used to be part of the Sanjay National Park in undivided Madhya Pradesh. 
  • Both were identified as reserve forests, and had been in line to be notified as Tiger Reserve since 2011.
• However, local resistance in Bhoramdeo forced the government to put the plan on the backburner in 2018.

Significance and Importance

• Guru Ghasidas National Park is significant as it is the Asiatic cheetah’s last-known habitat in India. 
• Wildlife activists and experts believe that converting Guru Ghasidas into a Tiger Reserve is an important step as it connects Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and provides the tigers with a corridor to move between the Palamau and Bandhavgarh reserves.

Source:IE