Vijay Pinjarkar Jul 29, 2018

NAGPUR: Of the 1,697 road, irrigation and railway projects, 399 worth Rs 1.3 lakh crore are coming up in the tiger landscape of Central India and Eastern Ghats. Spread over eight states, the area is home to 688 (31%) of the country's 2,226 tigers and these projects threaten the existence of the big cats. These facts have been highlighted in a report ahead of International Tiger Day, which is observed on July 29 every year.

Significantly, proposers of 345 of the 399 projects are not aware of the tiger corridor status of forestland patches that they seek to divert. Such unplanned development threatens the future of tigers in the country, says 'Policy framework for connectivity conservation and smart green linear infrastructure development in the Central Indian & Eastern Ghats Tiger Landscape'. The report has been prepared by Wildlife Conservation Trust researchers Milind Pariwakam, Aditya Joshi, Sheetal Navgire and Srinivas Vaidyanathan.

"We hope this report will be of use to all stakeholders for a truly win-win solution for conservation and smart green development in the spirit of the PM's statement," said Pariwakam, who is the lead author. 

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