Jairam seeks more efforts for tigers in Orissa reserve

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Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has asked Orissa to take urgent measures to safeguard the tigers in the state’s Similipal national park.

In a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Ramesh has suggested at least eight measures and asked him to intervene personally. The letter sent on Wednesday came a few days after a senior official from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) visited Similipal in Mayurbhanj district, about 320 km from here, and apprised Ramesh about the situation.

“A small contingent of state armed force needs to be deployed in some of the villages on the fringe of the core zone. This needs to be done especially in those villages which have the tradition of Akhand Shikar (mass hunting rituals),” said the letter, a copy of which is in possession of IANS.

Ramesh also urged the state to provide firearms to frontline staff of the Similipal National Park, which is also a tiger reserve, with necessary training by the local police. “The process of raising, arming, and deploying the special tiger protection force needs to expedited,” the minister said in his letter. Similipal is one of India’s first project tiger reserves. Spread over 845.70 sq km, it is home to many Royal Bengal Tigers and elephants.