HYDERABAD: A division bench of Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Centre and State government to file affidavits informing about the proactive measures to be taken for the protection of tigers and other animals and in increasing the tiger population in the Kawal tiger reserve area spread over Adilabad, Nirmal, Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Mancherial districts.
Apart from the tigers, there were several other animals living in the forest area and their survival is in danger due to the usage of plastic by the local tribals, the bench observed. The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice A Rajasheker Reddy was passing the order in the PIL filed by Diya Sur, a wildlife conservationist from Hyderabad, assailing the inaction of the concerned authorities for failure to strictly adhere to in implementing the Tiger Conservation Plan as approved by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi in Kawal reserve forest area.
When the matter came up for hearing, the government counsel sought some more time for implementation of earlier orders of the court directing the concerned police, excise, forest and energy department officials to have joint inspections in the Kawal reserve area and to submit reports individually before the court.
Already, the officials’ committees have been constituted for the purpose and conducted coordination meeting on implementation of Tiger Conservation Plan and reviewed the protection measures being taken, but needs some time to submit reports before the court, he added. The bench directed the State and Centre to submit their reports before the court.