“As on date, there is no proposal before the government to declare Mhadei as a tiger reserve… but it is given sufficient protection as the area is declared as sanctuary,” Environment Minister Alina Saldanha told the House while replying to demands for grants for Forest and Environment.
There has been consistent demand to declare the sanctuary spread across 208.5 square km in the Western Ghats in Sattari, as tiger sanctuary after a tiger was killed in 2009. The minister informed that a scientific study by Dr Ulhas Karant is being carried out to assess the presence and the population of the tigers in the protected area, which will continue till 2017. She said that based on the scientific data available on completion of this assessment, a decision will be arrived at.
