Why the Goa government is in the dock over notifying a tiger reserve

The Goa government had approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the High Court’s judgement. Last week, as the three-month deadline to notify the tiger reserve passed, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the media, “We have filed an application in High Court seeking more time to implement the court order. We will wait till the application is decided.”

On Monday (October 30), the Goa Foundation filed a contempt petition before the Bombay HC at Goa seeking action against the Goa government for not complying with the directions of the High Court to notify a tiger reserve within three months.

The background 

The 2014 Status of Tigers (Co-predators & Prey) in India report, released by the statutory body National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) formed under the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972, speaks about the tiger presence in the region, the PIL said.

The report said the Cotigao-Mhadei forest complex of Goa comprises five protected areas: Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Netravali Wild ife Sanctuary and Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, and they together cover an area of 750 sq mts, forming a contiguous belt connecting the forests of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

It further added that Goa has a persistent tiger presence with about three to five tigers.

What is the status of proposals for a tiger reserve in Goa?

The NTCA has made multiple recommendations to the state for a tiger reserve. Following this, protections for the area would be enhanced and lead to stricter security measures, such as a ‘Special Tiger Protection Force’ for guarding purposes.

In 2011, Jairam Ramesh, the then Minister of State for Environment and Forests, wrote to former Goa CM Digambar Kamat to declare the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve. The letter said, “There is evidence to show that tigers in Goa are not merely transient animals but are a resident population as well. Mhadei is a contiguous tiger landscape to Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka to its south-east and to Anshi Dandeli Tiger Reserve to its south which has around 35 tigers.”

Ramesh referred to a 2008 study carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India, an autonomous institution established under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoeFCC). It said protected areas of Goa and their contiguous forests in Karnataka and Maharashtra were possibly some of the best potential tiger habitats in the Western Ghats region and needed protection.

NTCA’s recommendation

In March 2016, the NTCA recommended that the state government should notify a tiger reserve in the Cotigao-Mhadei forest complex. In a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden of Goa, the Inspector General of Forests, MoEFCC-NTCA, said the forest complex has recorded tiger presence, and has the potential to house a tiger population.

Over the next 18 months, the Forest Department prepared a tentative map for the reserve – comprising largely undisturbed areas with few human hamlets as the core zone, its most protected area. This was adjoining the Kali Tiger Reserve and Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary of Karnataka and Maharashtra, in the North of Mhadei WLS, Bhagwan Mahaveer WLS and National Park, Netravali and Cotigao WLS.

The earlier draft proposed map.

A draft proposal in 2018 mentioned that a map has been drawn to demarcate the contiguous forest habitat in existing protected areas in Western Ghats as the core zone. Main villages and human habitation were to be kept outside this zone and placed in the proposed buffer zone, as far as possible. The proposed map said that out of 745.18 square kilometres of protected areas, 578.33 sq km was proposed as core zone and 166.85 sq km as the buffer zone.

The State Board for Wildlife discussed the proposal and the chief minister, who is the chairperson of the Board, asked for a study on the socio-economic impact on locals residing in fringe areas before finalising the proposal.

Pause in the developments

The proposal for the tiger reserve got stalled at this stage. Over the years, local politicians have encouraged villagers to encroach territories and cultivate cashew in the sanctuary. Some environmentalists contend that the process was abruptly halted due to “pressures and influence of a mining lobby”.

In 2022, Goa’s Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane said there are no resident tigers in Goa. “As long as I am minister, there is no question of a tiger reserve… The tiger enters Goa through a corridor before exiting the state. There are no resident tigers,” said Rane.

How did the demand for a tiger reserve gain traction in recent years?

In January 2020, a tigress and its three cubs were found dead in Mhadei WLS, with a subsequent investigation saying that forest dwellers had poisoned the tigers for killing their cattle.

An NTCA expert team constituted to enquire into the deaths of tigers suggested that the state government may take immediate steps to enhance the legal status of Mhadei WLS to that of a tiger reserve.

“Without upgrading the legal status of Goa’s Protected Areas to that of the tiger reserve and putting in place a strong protection regime in place, the state may become a death trap for tigers dispersing in this landscape,” the NTCA report said.

“Unfortunately even after more than two decades of declaring Mhadei as Wildlife Sanctuary, it is managed on completely ad-hoc basis as there exists no management plan for such an important sanctuary of the Western Ghat. It gives an impression that wildlife management appears to be a subject which is of least priority for the Goa Forest Department,” the report noted.

The PIL was filed after the four tigers’ killing. In February 2020, the petitioner Claude Alvares, Director of the Goa Foundation, wrote to the state government saying the move will not only secure the habitat for tigers and the associated flora and faunal diversity at the state level, but also contribute towards the conservation of Western Ghats.

What has the Goa government contented?

Referring to the recommendations by NTCA, the state government argued before the court that the provisions of section 38-V (1) of the Wildlife Protection Act were only directory and not mandatory. The government said it was not opposed to notifying the area as a tiger reserve, arguing that further studies were necessary and the rights of the forest dwellers needed to be settled entirely before such steps could be taken.

The state said that final notification under Section 26-A of the WLPA is yet to be issued for Bhagwan Mahaveer, Mhadei WLS (partly), Netravali WLS (partly). Proposing these areas as tiger reserves without settlement of rights and claims of the forest dwellers may be “premature and will adversely affect larger public interest and further aggravate man-tiger conflict,” it said.

Citing a 1997 direction from the Supreme Court, directing several state governments to settle the rights and claims of forest dwellers, the court said Goa had not completed the process. “And now, this abject failure, if not open disobedience, is cited as an excuse to avoid notifying the tiger reserve,” the court said.

Another contention put forth by the state was that the protected areas enjoy the same level of protection for all flora and fauna as in a tiger reserve and no additional protection was necessary for the tiger, because all wild animals deserved equal protection.