THE DEADLINE IS OVER. WHERE IS OUR TIGER RESERVE?

PANJIM: October 24 has come and gone. The State and its leaders celebrated Dussehra with a lot of fanfare, not failing to point out that Dussehra signifies the triumph of light over darkness, of good over evil, and of right over wrong.

Yet on the same day, the deadline set by the High Court to declare the Mhadei forest complex as a Tiger Reserve, in its July 24 order was missed. Deliberately. This was done without any protection from the High Court or Supreme Court to pause or not go ahead with the High Court order.

The Goa government’s plea in the High Court to extend the deadline of October 24 for notifying the tiger reserve was not heard. At the same time there is no stay from the Supreme Court on the High Court directive to Goa to notify the Mhadei forest complex as a Tiger Reserve.

 Environmentalists slammed the government, accusing it of not being serious on the issue concerning the future of Goa.

There was stoic silence on the part of the State government as there was no mention of its miscellaneous civil application pleading for an extension of time before the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday.

Reacting to the piquant situation, Federation of Rainbow Warriors convenor and environmentalist Abhijit Prabhudessai said, “Any reasonable government will notify the wildlife sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve. But knowing the present government and its hatred for the environment, forest, water, people and tigers, we can be pretty sure that this government will completely ignore the law and will actually work in a criminal way against the interest of our nation. Everyone knows that all ministers involved are only interested in making some small money for themselves and have no respect for our environment, economy and our people. The only thing is that people will have to fight to save Goa and to save Goa we have to save the tiger.” 

RTI activist and Save Tiger Save Goa convenor Rajan Ghate said, “Actually it is contempt of court. There is no reason to have faith in this government. This government only follows orders from Delhi. The High Court gave three months’ time to declare the sanctuary as Tiger Reserve but the government has gone deaf and mute. The Advocate General speaks like the spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Now Goans need to question the government. What did it do during the last three months?”

Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA) secretary and environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said, “It is a bounden duty of Indians to protect tigers which have been declared national animals. However, the Goa government is not in the mood for a Tiger Reserve. The High Court has stated that the buffer zone and the core zone are different. The rumours spread in villages are baseless.” 

Kerkar said, “Now as the period provided by the High Court has expired today, it is the bounden duty of the government to notify the wildlife sanctuary as Tiger Reserve.  The Goa government must follow the order of the High Court and notify the sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve. We are the local people of Sattari, Dharbandora, Sanguem and Canacona. There are around 50 families who may come under the buffer zone but they would be allowed to do their day-to-day activities. If we want Goa and Mhadei, then we have to protect the tigers in Goa.”     

Former Deputy Conservator of Forest Milind Karkhanis said, “The government does not seem to be serious on the matter. It is not keen to give justice to the environment and the wildlife. In fact, there should not be any politics involved in it. There is no respect for the properly laid down principles by the government itself. At least there should be some reason for their inaction but that too is missing.”

It may be recalled that in its July 24, 2023, judgement, the Bombay High Court at Goa had directed the Goa government to notify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and other areas referred to in National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)’s communications (and the plans prepared by the Goa Forest Department Officials) as a Tiger Reserve under.

The High Court had also directed the State government to take all steps to prepare a tiger conservation plan as contemplated by Section 38-V (3) of the WLPA and to forward the same to the NTCA within three months from notifying the Mhadei WLS and other areas as a Tiger Reserve.

It had directed the NTCA to render full assistance to the State Government for completing the process and after that to expeditiously process the State Government’s Tiger Conservation Plan and take a decision thereon within three months of receiving the tiger conservation plan from the State government.

The High Court had also directed the State government to set up anti-poaching camps at strategic locations to be staffed by forest guards, watchers, etc, in the wildlife sanctuary and National Parks in Goa and said that the exercise must be completed within six months.

It also directed the State government and the Forest Department authorities to take emergent steps to ensure that there are no encroachments in the protected forest areas like wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks.

It also directed the State government to determine and settle the rights and claims of the Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers following the law as expeditiously as possible and preferably within 12 months from the date of the order.