New Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh- All you need to know

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on October 5, 2021, approved the Chhattisgarh Government’s proposal of declaring the combined areas of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.

The new Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh is located in the Northern Part of the state, bordering Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. This will also be the 4th Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, after Achanakmar, Udanti-Sitanadi, and Indravati Reserves.

The proposal by the Chhattisgarh government was considered by NTCA’s 11th Technical Committee on September 1. The approval was given a month later under Section 38V (1) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

What is the size/area of new Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh?

The constituent units of the new Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, Guru Ghasidas National Park, and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary are spread over 1,44,000 hectares and 60,850 hectares respectively.

Guru Ghasidas National Park is situated in the Koriya district while Tamor Pingla is in Surajpur district in the Northwestern Corner of Chhattisgarh.

Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife sanctuary: Background

In India, Guru Ghasidas National Park was the last known habitat of the Asiatic Cheetah and was originally part of the Sanjay Dubri National Park. It was created as a separate entity in Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja region after the state was formed in 2001.

The former BJP government in Chhattisgarh had decided to make Tamor Pingla Wildlife sanctuary part of a bigger elephant corridor in the northern part of Chhattisgarh and had also moved to get approval for the Bhoramdeo Wildlife Sanctuary in the centre of the state as a Tiger Reserve.

However, resistance from the local population in Bhoramdeo had forced the government to step back from the plan in 2018.

The Congress Government in the state threw its weight behind getting the approval from NTCA for Guru Ghasidas National Park.

New Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh: What is the significance?

•  The wildlife experts and activists in Chhattisgarh believe that turning Guru Ghasidas into a Tiger Reserve is significant because it connects Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and also provides a corridor for tigers to move between Palamau and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves.

•  On the other hand, Bhoramdeo connects the Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh with Kanha Tiger Reserve in MP. As per the experts, the decision of creating a Tiger Reserve at Guru Ghasidas National Park must not affect the attempts to notify Bhoramdeo as a Tiger Reserve too.