BHUBANESWAR: The expert panel formed by the state government to move forward with its plan to declare Debrigarh a tiger reserve (TR) has recommended designating the entire 353 sq km area of the sanctuary as the core zone of the proposed reserve.
The three-member expert committee, headed by former member-secretary of NTCA Anup Nayak, had been formed by state Forest department to delineate the core and buffer zones of the protected area for creation of the tiger reserve.
The committee in its report recognised the efforts of Hirakud wildlife division in creating inviolate space for the proposed TR, stating that seven per cent of the protected area is now covered with meadows due to the efforts of the sanctuary authorities in relocating villages from inside and converting those areas into grasslands.
The panel in its final report has also observed that the landscape, though not sufficient to hold a self-sustaining tiger population because of its size, should be declared a tiger reserve to facilitate movement of dispersing big cats from the central India landscape to Odisha forests.
“India has many small tiger reserves like Orang and Bor. They play a very important role as a stepping stone for surplus migrating tigers from nearby source areas. One of the benefits of declaring Debrigarh as a TR is that the ecological connectivity with Gomarda Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh will be protected, thus keeping alive the hopes of further ingression of dispersing tigers to tiger deficient Odisha forests including Satkosia,” the report said.
Accordingly, it has recommended a gradual shift of the ongoing tourism activities out of the sanctuary to ensure the inviolability of the core zone remains compatible with breeding requirements of tigers and other wildlife species.
PCCF wildlife and chief wildlife warden (CWW) Prem Kumar Jha said he has received the report. “It will now be forwarded to the government for necessary action at its end,” he said.
The committee noted that, all six villages located within the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary were relocated between 2018 and 2022. It further stated that no individual or community rights exist within the sanctuary. Accordingly, the committee recommended that the entire 353 sq km area of the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary be designated as the core zone of the proposed tiger reserve to keep it inviolate for tiger conservation. The buffer zone of the proposed TR is pegged at 450.7 sq km.