Construction within tiger reserve corridors puts Wildlife, Tourism departments at odds in Madhya Pradesh

The first project included the use of 0.1604 hectares of land for construction of 16 rooms, a reception and other development work in Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary. The project works “were nearing completion”, and the Board noted that this “violated provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and State Forest Act”.

The second proposal was for the use of 0.0435 hectares for construction of a conference hall, toilet and kitchen at Parsili Resort by the MPSTDC. The state’s Chief Wildlife Warden informed the Standing Committee that “the Tourism Department has carried out expansion near the old rest house building”, following which the committee expressed “displeasure over the violations carried out by the Tourism Department” and “recommended action against those responsible”.

The Standing Committee ordered that both these projects be demolished, and sought an explanation from the Tourism department and the local Collector.

On September 3, wildlife activist Ajay Dubey wrote to the state wildlife department flagging that no action had been taken.

On September 16, the Range Officer of Son Gharial Sanctuary, Rampur Naikin, and the Superintendent of Son Gharial Sanctuary, Sidhi, informed the Wildlife department that a notice was issued five days earlier, on September 11, to the Executive Engineer of MPSTDC’s Rewa Division and Managers of Parisili Resort and Kathbangla, instructing them to “demolish the illegal constructions within 10 days”.

In response, the Executive Engineer of MPSTDC on September 19 wrote that “the above-mentioned works were carried out under the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme of the Government of India as part of the Wildlife Circuit, with administrative approval from the Government of Madhya Pradesh”.

The letter also mentioned that the “expenditure for these works was sanctioned under the funds allocated by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and the Madhya Pradesh Government”, and requested additional time for “action on these matters”.

On October 21, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) V N Ambade wrote a letter to the Assistant Inspector General of Forests, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, informing that “a notice was issued on September 11 to the concerned applicant, the Tourism Department, to demolish the illegally constructed infrastructures within the sanctuary within 10 days”.

As of now, the structures are still standing.

When contacted, Amit Kumar Dubey, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director at Sanjay Tiger Reserve, Sidhi, told The Indian Express, “We issued a notice to the local authorities in the MP tourism department. They have asked for time. They have sent a representation to the state department for consideration. The matter is left to the higher authorities.”

Principal Secretary Sheo Shekhar Shukla, from the MP Tourism and Culture department, said, “This appears to be a routine affair and has never been brought to my notice. Any misunderstanding, if at all, would be sorted out. Both Forest and Tourism (departments) in MP have always worked together to put the state on the world map for nature and wildlife enthusiasts and would continue to do so.”

The Swadesh Darshan scheme was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2014-15 with an aim to provide financial assistance to state governments for development of tourism infrastructure at various destinations. Madhya Pradesh has four such projects for which Rs 349 crore was sanctioned.

These include the development of a wildlife circuit at tiger reserves in Pench, Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Sanjay Dubri and Mukundpur. The other three projects involve the development of a Buddhist circuit, heritage circuit and an eco circuit.