Daily
Pioneer: Bhopal: Tuesday, October 30, 2012.
As many as
295 posts at various levels are lying vacant in six tiger reserves of the
State, posing a security threat to the big cats there.
A highest of
222 vacancies are at the level of forest guards, 46 at foresters, 25 of forest
rangers and two of deputy forest rangers, according to an information received
in response to an RTI query filed by activist Ajay Dubey.
Of the total vacancies,
87 are in Satpura Tiger reserve, Hoshangabad, 62 in Kanha Tiger Reserve,
Mandala, 46 in Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Sidhi, 44 in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve,
Umaria, 37 in Panna Tiger Reserve, Panna and 19 in Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni,
it said.
According to
an official data of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) updated till
April this year, as many as 16 tigers were found dead between January and
March, 2012 in Madhya Pradesh.
Tiger
population in the country was estimated to be 1,706 as per the 2010 data.
Madhya Pradesh has about 257 big cats in its various reserves.
Incidentally,
Madhya Pradesh has not yet constituted a Special Tiger Protection Force despite
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s directive to the State Government in this
regard two years ago.
The Prime
Minister in April 2010 had written to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
emphasising on “urgent need” to ensure safety of tigers through a slew of
measures including declaration of buffer areas at tiger reserves and setting up
of a special force to protect the wild cats.
“It is
unfortunate that the State Government has not filled vacant posts in various
tiger reserves. It has also not formed a Special Tiger Protection Force to save
the wild cats. We will soon meet the Chief Minister in this regard,” Dubey
said.
Authorities
in June had found a full grown tiger dead in the forest area of neighbouring
Sehore district allegedly killed by poachers.
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