HYDERABAD: Amrabad Tiger Reserve (ATR) in Srisailam of Andhra Pradesh receives a raw deal in the form of a minuscule proposed Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), that is just about 12 per cent of the size of the tiger reserve.
The proposed ESZ of ATR is spread over 315 square kilometers in the range of 0-1 kilometres around the existing buffer zone of tiger reserve, whereas the total area covered by ATR is 2,611.09 sq km.
This is as per the draft notification on ESZ of ATR, published by Ministry of Environment and Forests.
One can get an idea of the small size of ESZ proposed for ATR by comparing it to ESZ of other well known tiger reserves in the country. For example, Satpura tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh covers 1,432.22 sq km of forest area. Its ESZ is spread in the range of 100 metres to 2 km and covers an area of 1,079.43 sq km, which is 75 per cent the size of the tiger reserve. Nagarahole tiger reserve in Karnataka covers 847.71 sq km and its proposed ESZ is spread in the range of 1 to 7.44 km covering area of 568.88 sq km which is 67 per cent of tiger reserve area.
When contacted, Imran Siddiqui of Hyderabad Tiger Conservation Society(HyTiCoS), said that the proposed ESZ for ATR is surprising. He said, “Amrabad has forests on the western side which can have an extended ESZ than the presently proposed range. There is no logic behind having such small range of ESZ in directions surrounding the tiger reserve where reserved forests are present.”