PANJIM: Even as the order of the High Court on a PIL seeking the declaration of the Mhadei – Cotigao tiger complex as a Tiger reserve is pending, the Goa government has rejected Centre’s proposal to have a tiger reserve in and around the protected areas. The decision was taken by the State Wildlife Board (SWB) headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday.
The move comes precisely after 48 hours of the final arguments on the public interest litigation filed by Goa Foundation before the Bombay High Court at Goa, pleading to declare Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as tiger reserve, being concluded with order or judgment being reserved.
Highly-placed sources confirmed that the Board rejected the proposal to have a tiger reserve in Goa stating that the proposal is “not feasible” for a “small State” like Goa. “The Board was of the clear view that a small State like Goa cannot have a tiger reserve,” sources said.
Both, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane were unavailable for comments.
Forest Minister in the past was on record to state that Goa is not a habitat for tiger and the tigers found here are transit animals.
In 2011, though, quite on the contrary, former Union Minister for Forest and Environment Jairam Ramesh, wrote to Goa Government suggesting to submit a proposal to declare the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a “tiger reserve” since “there are evidences to show that tigers in Goa are not merely transient animals but a resident pollution as well”.
“Declaring a tiger reserve is not advisable as the tigers spotted in the State are in transit,” the Minister had said.
Within a span of three years, in 2014, yet another former Union Minister Jayanti Natarajan sought Goa’s response to a tiger reserve.
This was followed by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) mooting out that tiger reserve to be carved out from uninhabited core areas of Goa’s protected wild fearing “extinction of the species”.
Again in 2016, the Ministry said Goa “it would be in the fitness of things” to notify the Cotigao Mhadei Forest Complex as a Tiger Reserve.
In 2020, following death of a four-member tiger family in Guleli village in Sattari, the Centre-appointed probe team, had even recommended that State should take immediate steps for enhancing the legal status of MWL to that of a tiger reserve.
The tiger presence in Goa was first felt in 2002 when the animal census conducted by the State Forest Department authenticated the presence of wild cat in the Mhadei area. This was followed by 2006 and 2010 census that also recorded tiger presence in that area.
Since then, tiger presence has been felt in Goa on various occasions. Even the recent census, held in April-May, zeroed upon presence of tigers in Goa. However, the final data of the census is yet to be released.
