Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) is under siege

souce: Times of india

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), a pristine and unique eco-system situated in Chandrapur district, is one of the few success stories for ‘Project Tiger’. The reserve, a major source of tiger population and endowed with rich biodiversity, is virtually under siege.

Tadoba is a major breeding centre for tigers and
leopards. It virtually supplies big cats to all major forests and habitats in the region. For this to happen, there must be corridors allowing the movement of cats into other forest areas. Thanks to growing villages and development projects, these corridors are getting blocked.
The big cats are already blockaded from South-West direction towards Agarzari and Padmapur due to extensive mining projects, with more projects proposed. In this direction, they run into a major city like Chandrapur. In fact, they have sometimes come even up to Chandrapur and made human and cattle kills. The spill-over tigers and leopards from Kolsa range presently use forest corridor towards south-east
i.e. Rajoli and Mul.
The threat to 625-sq km TATR has increased following clearance to 25-year-old Human river irrigation project by the apex court recently. Studies and records show that the spill-over tiger and leopard population of Tadoba cannot migrate towards north-west due to a cluster of small villages (Shegaon, Ashta, Wadala, Mudholi etc.). They prefer the narrow forest corridor from Sirkada-Shivni-Naleshwar while migrating towards Bramhapuri Division. The Human dam reservoir will block (see map) the corridor.
The ‘bottleneck’ forest corridor from Palasgaon (Sirkada) to Shivni would go under submergence of the project. New proposals of mines like Adani Power Project for coal blocks at Lohara, 9.8 km from TATR boundary, and Maharashtra State Mining Corporation Limited (MSMCL) at Agarzari, 3.2 km from Tadoba, are raising their heads threatening the very existence of the reserve. The MSMCL has sought nine compartments and has asked them to be deleted from TATR buffer zone.
Warns wildlife conservationist Kishor Rithe, “If these proposed projects come up, Tadoba will lose its importance. The spill-over tiger/leopard population will try to either disperse or intrude in the fringe villages like Ashta, Wadala, Navegaon, Khadsingi, Kolara, Sitarampeth, Mudholi, Ghosri and many others. It may also affect towns like Sindewahi, Chimur, Mul and Chandrapur in the near future. The damage would be far more than what you see now. Last month, a tiger killed a woman near the Rangers College, which is hardly three kms from Chandrapur.”
Rithe, who heads the Satpuda Foundation, said the Human dam clearance has now added to the worries of these 52 villages situated on the fringes of TATR. The state government and the irrigation department would be held responsible for if attacks on humans and cattle increase. Already, these villages put huge biotic pressure on the reserve. No prizes for guessing who will be the loser. Eventually, human beings will eliminate the hemmed in tigers.
According to Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust, Mumbai, “Instead of conserving tigers, the government itself is pushing through coal mine projects and the Human dam which
will severely impact their habitat. With this, TATR will become an island of green surrounded by brown activities. This is happening when we all agree that protecting corridors is an important issue in tiger protection.”
Goenka said tigers were moving out of TATR into adjacent forests, which are themselves under severe biotic pressure.
In such conditions, mananimal conflicts would only flare up. The logical way of resolving this would be to increase the areas under protection and try to reduce the activities that disturb wildlife. Precisely the opposite is being done.
Meanwhile, a scientific study by city-based Tiger Research And Conservation Trust (TRACT) headed by Harshawardhan and Poonam Dhanwatey has photographic and physical evidence of presence of large carnivores (tigers, leopards, sloth bears) and other small carnivores like (dholes, hyenas, jackals, jungle cats, rusty spotted cats, ratels, ruddy mongoose) in the area marked for submergence. The landscape also supports large herbivores like gaurs, sambars, chital, barking deer, four horned antelopes and many reptilian species.
WHAT IS TATR
TATR was created in 1995. The area of the reserve is 625.40 sq km. This includes Tadoba national park, created in 1955 with an area of 116.55 sq km and Andhari wildlife sanctuary created in 1986 with an area of 508.85 sq km. The reserve is constituted with 577.96 sq km reserve forest, 32.51 sq km protected forest and 14.93 sq km other areas.