BHOPAL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 72nd birthday on September 17 is likely to be extra special as well as historic, as he will be in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh, inaugurating the world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project.
Seven decades after the fastest moving animal on earth became extinct in India, it’s set to be re-introduced at the Kuno National Park (KNP), as cheetahs from Namibia are likely to arrive at the national park by September 16, a day before the PM’s arrival.
The formal announcement of the long-awaited arrival of cheetahs from the dark-continent happening and the PM launching the project at the KNP was made by the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan before the start of the state cabinet meeting in Bhopal on Tuesday.
“It’s a matter of joy for all of us that the PM will be in MP on his birthday. And to add further to that joy, he will be inaugurating the reintroduction of cheetahs from Africa project at the Kuno National Park in the Sheopur district. The PM will also address a gathering of women self-help groups (SHGs) in Karahal town of the same Sheopur district,” the MP CM proudly announced before the start of Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
The CM made the announcement about the PM’s arrival and inauguration of Africa to India cheetahs translocation project after the PMO gave its nod to the MP government’s invitation.
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As per official sources in the Sheopur district, the workforce on the ground is racing against time to prepare seven helipads in and around the KNP, which is spread over a 750 sq km area. These helipads will ensure hassle-free landing of the cheetahs as well as the important officials and security staff for the PM’s visit.
Also, all hotels and restaurants around KNP have been booked by the local administration from September 14 to September 20.
Earlier, it was planned to translocate cheetahs from Namibia as well as South Africa at one go, but with MoU with SA yet to be signed, now cheetahs will be brought from Namibia first, with which India already has an MoU on the cheetah's translocation.
As per state forest department sources, 12 cheetahs, including four to five females, have been vaccinated and quarantined for a month in Namibia, which is part of preparations to airlift them to India.
Once at the KNP, they will be kept in the 500-hectare enclosure for two to three months before they are finally freed into the wild. They will be first quarantined in a part of the enclosure for a month, then shifted into the entire enclosure for around two to three months, before being free into the wild, sources added.
Meanwhile, a team of experts from South Africa and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) are believed to have landed at KNP for working on the translocation of Cheetahs from South Africa in the next few months.
Following extensive hunting, the cheetahs reportedly had become extinct in India in 1952. The last of the Cheetahs were hunted by the Raja of Koriya, in the jungles which are now part of Chhattisgarh in 1947. Five years later, the fastest moving animal on earth was declared extinct officially in India.
Though the Cheetah Reintroduction Project in India was conceived in 2009, it remained a non-starter for the want of the Supreme Court clearance to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) plea to reintroduce Cheetahs.
In January 2020, the apex court gave its final nod for reintroducing the extinct species in India. Nine months later, KNP was selected as the most ideal site, out of the six shortlisted sites for the translocation of cheetahs.
The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) did a detailed survey of the KNP in early 2021 for the translocation and in July 2021, the MP forest minister made the announcement that Cheetahs would be reintroduced at the KNP.
However, the cheetah's reintroduction plans were delayed owing to the outbreak of the Omicron variant-powered COVID-19 pandemic in African nations.
According to informed sources, it was earlier planned to bring the cheetahs from both Namibia and South Africa by July 2022 and the inauguration of the project at KNP by PM Modi via the virtual link on August 15 (Independence Day).
But with MoU getting delayed between South Africa and India and some other glitches like the presence of leopards in the enclosure built for the cheetahs, the inauguration couldn’t happen at that time.