BHUBANESWAR:The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has requested Odisha Government to notify the Sunabeda Tiger Reserve which was granted in-principle approval ten years back. The apex body on tiger conservation has communicated that it had accorded in-principle approval for declaration of Sunabeda as a tiger reserve a decade back and State should take steps to issue final notification at the earliest.
Currently, Similipal and Satkosia are the only two notified tiger reserves in the State while Sunabeda’s fate has been hanging fire for long.Given its proximity to Chhattisgarh, Sunabeda, for long, was facing issues of Maoist menace which had led to disruption of activities by the Forest Department. It had posed problems for enumeration and survey required for the tiger reserve notification.
The Centre had accorded in-principle approval on August 21, 2008 seeking a final proposal for the project. Subsequently, the Forest and Environment Department constituted an expert committee in 2010 but the panel was formally notified four years later. In 2016, Wildlife Wing completed the task and submitted the proposal to the State Government where it continues to be pending.
Sources said, the State Government has been wary of notifying the TR since it may lead to opposition from locals in Nuapada district where BJP has its base. Since Maoists had fanned anti-Government propaganda and there was also resistance from NGOs led by local political leaders, the Government was looking for the ‘right time’ to notify the TR. “With the elections drawing close, the Government may be weighing its options,” sources said.
However, delaying the notification could work against the TR which is a good tiger habitat given its contiguity to Udanti-Sitanadi TR of Chhattisgarh. Besides, it also connects to Central India Tiger Landscape. The last big cat enumeration by the State Government had found four tigers and 20 leopards in Sunabeda.
“Sunabeda is habitat where tiger conservation is urgently needed because it can sustain a good population, help exchange and repopulate. Immediate notification will ensure that protection measures are put in place,” said a conservationist.The proposal submitted by Wildlife Wing had put the total notified area of the TR at 1,083.098 sq km. It comprises Sunabeda Wildlife Division at 600 sq km and Khariar Forest Division at 483.098 sq km. Its core area is pegged at 510.461 sq km while the buffer zone is measured at 572.63 sq km.
The TR’s boundary was in a manner that could reduce human interference. The core area of the proposed TR has no revenue village but nine ‘other settlements’ as defined by Forest Rights Act. The buffer zone has 32 revenue villages, 22 hamlets and 26 other settlements.
Government apathy