Team Herald
MARGAO: As the debate continues around the comments of Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane, who is against the idea of a tiger reserve in Goa as he claims there are only ‘non-resident’ tigers in the State, the Amche Mollem group launched an awareness campaign online aimed at providing protection to the tigers found in Goa.
Their campaign also negated the comments made by the Forest Minister, who incidentally aggressively retaliated against all ‘environmentalists’ giving him ‘advice’ that he said he doesn’t need and won’t change his mind regarding creating a tiger reserve in the State.
The Amche Mollem group emphasised on the importance of the Tri Junction forest habitat for Tigers, which they explained consists of the forests of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra that support the only breeding tiger population in the North-Central Western Ghats of India.
“The State of Karnataka has the Kali Tiger Reserve and Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, which is connected with the Protected Areas in Goa, which include the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and National Park (Mollem), Netravali, Cotigao and Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuaries. Bhigmad and Mhadei are further connected to the newly-declared Tillari Conservation Reserve of the State of Maharashtra and further up to Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary,” they added.
“This entire landscape of nearly 6000 square metres has a tiger population of nearly 30-36 tigers and deserves highest protection and conservation measures,” they added further.
The Amche Mollem group further referred to media reports about government findings as well as warnings about the presence of Tigers in Goa, including the incident where Tigers were killed in the State.
Pointing out that the tigers in the Tri Junction forest habitat are at a ‘high risk of local extinction’, the group rued the rise in dispersal events and mortality due to poaching in this area.
“Therefore any further disturbance due to road expansion, railway expansion or c cutting of habitation for transmission lines can severely affect this only contiguous population of tigers in this region,” the group added.
The group has been actively campaigning against the proposed three linear infrastructure projects that threaten the future of forests in Goa.
