Concrete Action likely

After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed concern over unregulated tourism posing threat to tigers, a seceratary level meet is scheduled next week between the Tourism and Environment Ministry to take stock of the situation. "Though tourism is a state subject, booming tourist activity is being noticed around the wildlife habitat and it is time some concrete actions are taken in this regard. "Environment and Tourism secretaries Vijay Sharma and Sujeet Banerjee will represent their respective ministries among other officials in this regard," a senior official of the National Tiger Consrvation Authority said. The meeting comes in the wake of the Prime Minister writing to Chief Ministers of three tiger-bearing states namely Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to put a check on mushrooming luxury resorts as well as to notify buffer areas around the habitat of big cats to mitigate man-animal conflict. "The meeting will discuss steps within the Centre's jurisdiction to streamline tourism in all the reserves, particularly in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) in Uttarakhand where wildlife is facing problems resulting from uncontrolled human activities in the adjoining 77 tourist lodges," the official said. He referred to a recent survey by the Tourism Ministry which pointed out that a maximum of 600 persons are allowed in a day to enter the CTR area. Tourist lodges provide boarding and lodging facility to 3,197 visitors. "About 70 per cent of visitors arriving in these lodges aren't here to visit the park but but for attending dance parties and other recreational activities which create noise and light pollution, particularly during night that causes stress to wildlife," the survey pointed out. Garbage is also dumped in the area without scientific management, it said.

Other issues on the agenda of the meeting will be eco-tourism, in which states would be given incentives to declare eco-sensitive zones around wildlife habitat as required by the law to prevent damage to the fragile ecology.

Worried over the increased commercial activities around sanctuaries (39 tiger reserve and 663 protected areas), Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh recently said the states have been advised against unregulated tourism, which is as much a threat to tiger population as poaching and poisoning. Four big cats have died in the past two months in the Corbett Tiger Reserve due to poaching and poisoning.

According to officials, 16 tigers have been killed so far since January this year while 66 died last year. Meanwhile, school students in Uttarakhand took out a rally in Nainital to create awareness about the dwindling number of tigers in the country and to save the forest areas. Carrying placards and raising slogans, the students marched through the streets of Ramnagar in the state's Nainital district.

The rally was organised under the aegis of a non-charitable trust, the Corbett Foundation, which is committed to preserving the wildlife in the famed Jim Corbett National Park. The students also painted their faces with yellow colours with black stripes like that of a tiger. "We want to convey the message - please save the tigers, which are fast dwindling so that our future generation can see the species. We feel sad that we could not see the dinosaurs, which are now extinct and that is the reason why we want to save the tigers," said Nirmala Panth, a student.

Harender Bargeli, Deputy Director of Corbett Foundation, said that if children are made aware, they could help in conserving the environment and wildlife. "Our main aim to involve these children was since children are our future, if they are aware and if they take the initiative to save the forest wildlife then we can save many animals like tigers, elephants.," said Bargeli. Poaching and loss of habitat have caused the number of tigers to plunge to an alarming rate in India. Conservationists say the trade in skin and bones is booming to countries such as China, which has banned the use of tiger parts in medicine but where everything from fur to whiskers to eyeballs to bones, are still used.