- Saturday, 25 August 2012 01:03
- PNS.|.New Delhi
- http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/89898-reserves-fail-to-utilise-tiger-protection-funds.html
Even though tiger protection remains one of the highest priorities of the Government, three of the most sensitive reserves in the country — Corbett, Dudhwa and Ranthambore — have not been able to spend the allocated central assistance to the respective States for raising a Special Tiger Protection Force even in three years.
The Naxal-hit Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha has spent about 11.11 per cent in this regard during the past two years.
Replying to a query in this regard in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan informed that the three States — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan — that had been allocated `93 lakh each way back in 2008-09 — are yet to spend the amount so far.
Simlipal Tiger Reserve, on the other hand, has spent `30 lakh allotted to it in
2009-10 but the Central assistance of `2.4 crore released during the last financial year is still lying unspent.
The Special Tiger Protection Force, as per the guidelines of National Tiger Conservation Authority is aimed at raising, arming and deploying specially trained squads under the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger with100 per cent central assistance in the sensitive tiger reserves of the country.
The Ministry has identified 13 tiger reserves, based on tiger presence and vulnerability to poaching. Apart from four of the above mentioned, Kaziranga (Assam), Bandipur (Karnataka) Pench and Kanha (Madhya Pradesh) are amongst the other sensitive reserves.
“The Centrally sponsored scheme of Project Tiger
was revised in August 2011. Its allotment was stepped up to `1,216.86 crore, especially to support the States
for securing inviolate space for tigers.
The revised amount includes several additional components as increasing the central contribution in the funding pattern with respect to north eastern States, raising compensation for man-animal conflict to `2 lakh and
acquisition of private land for making the core/critical
tiger habitat inviolate.
