PM forms task force to review tiger reserves

The task force would suggest incentives to the local community in tiger conservation, methods of transparent professional audit of wildlife parks and outline a new wildlife management paradigm that shares concerns of conservation with the public at large.

Tigers doing fine in Indravati, claim Naxals

RAIPUR: The CPI (Maoist) — a combination of the PWG and the MCC — claimed here that the tiger population in Indravati has indeed gone up.

‘‘Tigers are safe with us. We take good care of them. No poacher can dare to enter the park. We can guarantee this,’’ said a local Maoist Dalam leader. In a handwritten note sent to newspapers from Bijapur in Dantewara, the Naxalite leaders have said that forest officials are welcome to visit the park twice a year for ‘‘management activities’’.

‘‘We have created a three-tier security ring in the park for protection of wildlife — at the village, the dalam and the top security layer, which is directly supervised by the guerrilla squad,’’ they said.

While the last census claimed 41 tigers in Indravati, the Naxalite leaders have put the figure at 55. Last week, state PCCF R.N. Mishra had asked the Field Director to explain the census figures when forest officials were not allowed to enter the park. — ENS