PANJIM: A day after the State Wildlife Board (SWB) resolved not to have a Tiger Reserve in Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who headed the Board, justified the decision by stating that the coastal State, being small, does not fit into the criteria laid down by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) with regards to declaring protected areas as Tiger Reserve.
The State Wildlife Board, having green activists as its members, on Wednesday rejected the Central government's proposal to declare the protected corridors of Mhadei-Mollem as a Tiger Reserve.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Sawant said that State does not fit into one of the criteria set by NTCA and so the question of having a Tiger Reserve does not arise.
He said that State has also filed a detailed affidavit before the High Court informing that “Goa is not fit for Tiger Reserve”.
The Bombay High Court at Goa on Tuesday concluded the final arguments on the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Goa Foundation pleading to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve.
The Chief Minister said that the State will follow all the criteria and guidelines of the Wild Life Act for the protection and conservation of all its seven wildlife sanctuaries.
“We have seven wildlife sanctuaries and we are following all criteria as far as protected areas are concerned. We are taking all measures to protect tigers and wild animals in these seven sanctuaries,” he said.
Refusing to speak further, Sawant said, “The matter is sub-judice.”
Since 2011, Union Minister for Forest and Environment has been urging Goa Government suggesting to submit a proposal to declare the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a “Tiger Reserve” since “there is evidence to show that tigers in Goa are not merely transient animals but a resident pollution as well”.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), too on repeated occasions, mooted that Tiger Reserve be carved out from uninhabited core areas of Goa’s protected wild fearing “extinction of the species”.
In 2020, following the death of a four-member tiger family in Guleli village in Sattari, the Centre-appointed probe team had even recommended that the State should take immediate steps for enhancing the legal status of MWL to that of a tiger reserve.