By Marcellus D’Souza
Apr 16: Newly appointed Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane ploughed into a controversy on Friday as ruled out the possibility of declaring the protected area of Mhadei Wildlife Reserve as a tiger habitat.
Rane said, “A month-long tiger census 2022 is currently underway across all the protected wildlife areas of Goa”. “I know people are very concerned about tigers as they are extremely passionate. So, I am also a wildlife photographer and have the same passion. But declaring a tiger reserve is not advisable as the tigers spotted in Goa are in transit,” the Minister said.
“Declaring a tiger reserve will have a long-term impact not only on the people residing in the Mhadei sanctuary but across the State,” Rane added.
Rane explained that the sightings that were reported are of a tiger that travels from neighbouring Karnataka. “The tiger is in transit, it is not native to the region,” Rane said, quoting information he had received from the Forest Department. “I have been hearing tiger, tiger, tiger, tiger for the last few days. The tiger enters Goa through a corridor before exiting the state,” Rane asserted.
“The tiger survey is different from a tiger census. Some people do not understand these issues and try to distract people. As long as I am Forest Minister, a responsibility of given to me by chief minister and the central government, we will be functioning as a people friendly department. The forest department needs to work with along with the people. I will not allow any conflict with the people. We will take people-oriented and people-centric decisions,” Rane emphasised.
Rane said, “The forest portfolio had a lot of scope and he would try to encourage ecotourism avenues in Goa’s wilds and attempt to make the states sanctuaries more popular”. “Our focus will be to make the Mahavir and Cortigao sanctuaries will be made more attractive to tourists with camping sites, which will involve local communities to generate employment”, the minister said.
We have scheduled a meeting on Monday of forest officers and guards. I have told forest officials to improve facilities at Bondla”, said Vishwajit Rane.
Tiger presence in Goa has been recorded since 2002 when the animal census conducted by the State Forest Department authenticated the wild cats presence in Mhadei area for the first time. A 2010 census showed the presence of five tigers in Goa. Tiger sightings in the Mhadei sanctuary thereafter became common.
In January 2020, the carcass of a tigress and her two cubs were found in Mhadei. Days later, a tiger body was recovered. The probe revealed that a local Dhangar family had poisoned the tiger family in a fit of rage.
Meanwhile, Claude Alvares, Goa Foundation Director and a leading Forest and Wildlife activist reacting to the comments of Vishwajit Rane opined “that it is simply not possible to avoid declaring a tiger reserve at the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary because it has been mandated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)”.
“The NTCA has written to the Goa government a couple of weeks ago to complete this task. The Forest Minister cannot deny this advice. It’s a national mandate. What explanation will he give to the Centre that Goa wants to be the only state which will not follow the national mandate?” asked Alvares.
Alvares said, “The tiger also does not know whether he is a Karnataka tiger or a Goa tiger. His species deserve protection wherever they are. We will not give up the fight to ensure that the tiger reserve becomes a reality.”
Alvares was of the opinion that it was possible to protect the tiger with no effect on human settlement in the forests. The NTCA had recently recommended that the Minister’s job is to give protection to every wild animal. Just because the tiger does not have a vote in Sattari, he should not be treated like this,” quipped in a lighter vein.