NTCA seeks status report on opening part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve for tourists

NTCA sought the report after Gaurav Kumar Bansal, a wildlife activist and advocate in Supreme Court, sent a legal notice to the NTCA member secretary on September 6, alleging that “allowing tourism in such a critical tiger habitat” was illegal

Published on: Sep 9, 2021, 17:55:53 IST

By Neeraj Santoshi

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National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has written to the Uttarakhand forest department seeking a factual status report on opening a part of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) for tourists.

NTCA sought the report after Gaurav Kumar Bansal, a wildlife activist and advocate in Supreme Court, sent a legal notice to the NTCA member secretary on September 6, alleging that “allowing tourism in such a critical tiger habitat for a whole year in Rajaji Tiger Reserve and that too without following the scientific and objective criteria as well as without consulting the expert committee is nothing but illegal” .

Bansal said that the chief wildlife warden of Uttarakhand, in his letter dated September 3, asked the director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve to open up the area from Satyanarayan to Kansro, a critical tiger habitat in Rajaji Tiger Reserve for the whole year.

Rajaji Tiger Reserve is usually open till June 15 after which it is closed for the monsoon season. It reopens on November 15 every year.

Bansal, in his legal notice, also pointed out that the chief wildlife warden, Uttarakhand, also asked the director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve to open the area from Motichur to Rajaji Rani via the Micro Tower tourism zone from October 1, 2021 instead of November 15, 2021.

Bansal said opening these areas is a violation of various provisions of the Wildlife (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.

When contacted, JS Suhag, the chief wildlife warden of Uttarakhand, said he will look into the matter and then send a detailed factual report to NTCA.

Rajaji National Park, spread over 820 sqkm 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. The park is named after C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), a prominent leader of the freedom struggle and the second and last governor general of independent India. In April 2015, Rajaji was declared a tiger reserve, becoming the second tiger reserve in the state after Corbett Tiger Reserve

The park is famous as an elephant habitat and also harbours the mountain goat, goral and other wild animals. The reserve is home to more than 50 species of mammals including tiger, leopard, Himalayan black bear, sloth bear, jackal , hyena, spotted deer, sambhar, barking deer, nilgai, monkeys and over 300 species of birds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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