INDIAN EXPRESS MAY 10, 2000

SAVE THE TIGER - CENTER TO CHECK FLOW OF FUNDS TO STATES

by Ajay Suri

NEW DELHI, MAY 9: Country's top experts on tiger deliberated upon the fate of the big cat for almost six hours in a meeting on Monday. The most significant upshot of the meeting, chaired by Union Minister T R Balu, was the Ministry's decision to approach the state governments for "detailed management plan'' in respect of tiger reserves by clearly stating the requirement of habitat management, improved enforcement and addressing issues relating to man-animal conflicts.

The Supreme Court saw to it that the first ever meeting of Project Tiger's reconstituted Steering Committee is held after 18 months and that a recalcitrant Environment Minister makes himself available for the proceedings.

The authorities set a belligerent tone, who coming from all corners of the country, painted a gloomy picture for the tiger. They said a major problem afflicting smooth functioning of Project Tiger was that the funds released by the Centre seldom reach in time or in totality to the state forest authorities. They also brought to the minister's notice an abnormally large number of vacant forest posts that have added to the magnitude of the problem. In Karnataka alone, 55 per cent of the posts were lying vacant. S C Dey, a prominent steering committee member, asked for greater co-operation with Bangladesh saying that Sunderbans sharing boundaries with Bangladesh had to be preserved as the area houses the single large st population of tigers in the country.

A slide in the professional commitment of new forest officials turned out to be a common refrain in the meeting. An anguished H S Panwar, founder director of the Wildlife Institute of India, pointed out how the officials now shun from walking inside the forest. "The criteria for selection of Indian Forest Service should be revamped. What we need is people with true commitment and a different bent of mind, showing real concern for wildlife. Instead what we have got on our hands is 'babus' for whom managing wildlife is just another job,'' he said. In Orissa's Simlipal Tiger Reserve, the forest staff does not want to remain in forest because of the fear of malaria.

Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Protection Society of India welcomed the recent Government's decision of allowing the CBI to probe wildlife cases, but insisted that it was not enough. "CBI can look only into major cases, whereas a number of other, equally vital matters remain unattended. We should have a specialised agency for control of wildlife crime,'' he said.

Balu announced setting up of sub-committees, consisting mainly of steering committee members who would visit the affected forests, study the scenario, and plead with the concerned Chief Ministers to take initiatives for tiger conservation on a priority basis.

Apart from the Chief Wildlife Wardens of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh all prominent `tiger states' were present for the meeting. Prominent members including Valmik Thapar, Brijender Singh and the petitioner Naveen Raheja were also there for the meeting.

Copyright @ 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.