Everything you need to know about Chhattisgarh’s newest tiger reserve

What do we know about the reserve?

The Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla is the fourth tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh after Achanakmar, Indravati, and Udanti Sitanadi. The total area of the new tiger reserve is 2,829.387 sq km, making it the third largest tiger reserve in India.

It is spread across four districts, Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur (MCB), Korea, Surajpur, and Balrampur in the northern tribal Sarguja region of Chhattisgarh.

The Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla falls between two other important tiger reserves located in Bandhavgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Palamau, Jharkhand. It is adjacent to Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve, also in MP.

The reserve comprises a wide range of wildlife species (apart from tigers) such as elephants, sloth bears, vultures, peacocks, wolves, leopards, otters, chitals, jackals, nilgai, bison, hyenas, langurs, cobras etc.

The Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla is also rich in flora — comprising sal, saja, dhavda, kusum etc — different types of vegetation. It consists of hills, plateaus, valleys, and a river system which create a diverse habitat for its rich wildlife.

What is Chhattisgarh’s current tiger population?

Currently, there are 30 tigers, including three sub-adults and two cubs, in the state, according to Sudhir Kumar Agrawal, Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW), Chhattisgarh. There are five to six tigers at the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve as of now.

The state’s tiger population fell from 46 in 2014 to 17 in 2022, the last official tiger status report released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), released in 2023, revealed.

How does Chhattisgarh plan to boost its tiger population?

Agrawal told The Indian Express that to increase the tiger population “we are proposing to bring a few tigresses [to the new tiger reserve] from Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh and Sanjay Dubri to meet the proportion of male tigers.”

He also said that several other measures are being implemented. These include creating rapid response teams, building a good rapport with villagers, developing informer-based wildlife protection/prevention, and deploying full-time guards.

How are authorities preparing for tiger conservation?

Authorities are preparing a comprehensive Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP), which will tackle different challenges that tiger conservation at the reserve may face. The plan includes:

•  Developing a robust road and wireless connectivity to help patrol the hilly terrain, which forms more than 50% of the reserve.
• Increasing the prey base for tigers. To do so, in the past few years, authorities have been developing grasslands and water bodies. They have also translocated hundreds of cheetal and wild boars to the reserve from other places in the state.
• Strengthening the wildlife corridors with MP which have seen an increase in tiger population recently. Saurabh Singh Thakur, director of Guru Ghasidas National Park, told The Indian Express, “As the population of tigers in MP is increasing, the young and sub-adult tigers will be in search of a new territory and we have already witnessed Tiger migration from MP. So, the forest department’s initiatives will be focused upon grassland development, water resource availability, prey base management and mitigating human-wildlife conflict for the two corridors from Sanjay and Bandhavgarh Tiger reserves to enable a natural transition for them.”
• Creating awareness among villagers to avoid possible animal-human conflict. The reserve consists of 42 sparsely populated villages and the residents will have the option to relocate voluntarily. They will also be given priority for jobs related to the reserve. Authorities will train residents to run tourism-related businesses such as tour guides, homestays, boating, and handicrafts, among others.

What other preparations are taking place at the reserve? 

The government is working on creating an entire eco-tourism circuit and getting a heritage site tag for the reserve. Apart from the jungle safari, infrastructure is being developed for eight ancient cave painting sites, religious places, river walk, vulture siting, origin of Hasdeo river, 360 degrees view of Balam Ghat and waterfalls.

What happens next? 

Ajay Shankar Dubey, , wildlife activist, believes that cheetahs should be reintroduced at the reserve like it was done in Madhya Pradesh recently. He also says that government must prevent encroachments in the reserve.