Stop activities in Rajaji core area: NTCA to govt

DEHRADUN: Describing the opening of core or critical tiger habitat of Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) for tourist activities as a “violation” of norms, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on Wednesday directed the state forest department to stop such activities with immediate effect till further orders.

Gaurav Kumar Bansal, Supreme Court advocate and a wildlife activist, said acting on his legal notice, the NTCA - the tiger protection body - on Wednesday through a letter, directed Chief Wildlife Warden JS Suhag to immediately stop tourism in core or critical tiger habitat of RTR which was allowed through an order on September 3.

Bansal said terming the Chief Wildlife Warden’s September 3 letter in contrary to the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and tourism guidelines in protected areas issued by the NTCA, the apex tiger protection body directed him to immediately stop the tourism activities in the RTR. “In his September 3 letter, the Chief Wildlife Warden directed the RTR director to open Satyanarayan to Kansro area, a critical tiger habitat of RTR, for whole year for tourism. Allowing tourism in such a critical tiger habitat for whole year and that too without following the scientific and objective criteria as well as without consulting the expert committee is nothing but illegal,” Bansal said.

Last month, the NTCA had written to the forest department seeking a factual status report on opening a part of RTR for tourists.

The NTCA had sought the factual report after Bansal sent a legal notice to the NTCA member secretary on September 6.

Bansal, in his legal notice, had also pointed out that the chief wildlife warden, Uttarakhand in his letter dated September 3 had also directed director, Rajaji Tiger Reserve to open Motichur to Rajaji Rani via Micro Tower Tourism Zone from October 1, 2021 instead of November 14, 2021.

Bansal said opening these areas of RTR is nothing but violation of various provisions of Wild Life (Protection) Act-1972. “The said unsustainable use of Rajaji Tiger Reserve landscape is not only capable of damaging the whole ecology of the tiger reserve but it can also cause harm to the pristine biological diversity of the Park. So, I sent a legal notice to NTCA so that they take cognisance of this matter and initiate action in accordance with law and more specifically as per the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972”, he said.

Rajaji Tiger Reserve remains open till June 15 after which it gets closed for the monsoon season and reopens on November 15 every year.

Rajaji National Park spread over 820 sq km in three districts of Uttarakhand, namely Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal, came into existence in 1983, when three wildlife sanctuaries in the area- Chilla, Motichur and Rajaji sanctuaries were merged into one.