Modi-Shivraj war for lions to heat up

An uncanny political fight treading into wildlife will start from tomorrow when a committee of experts will consider relocation of lions from Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh as directed by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 29, 2013, 01:53:23 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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An uncanny political fight treading into wildlife will start from Monday when a committee of experts will consider relocation of lions from Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh as directed by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had opposed the relocation terming Gir lions as “Gujarati pride” and had even threatened to seek review of the Supreme Court order, which has not happened so far. Madhya Pradesh had claimed that Kuno Palpur was ready for soft release of lions.

The differing view of the two state governments and some wildlife experts would come out in open when wildlife wardens of the two states participate in the environment ministry’s committee to decide on relocation of Gir lions.

The committed is headed by additional director general, wildlife, SS Gabrayal and has experts such as former director of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) PR Sinha, WII faculty J Y Jhala, senior ecologist Ravi Chellam and ATS John as members. The visible omission from the committee is petitioner and conservationist Fayaz Khudsar, who has worked extensively in Kuno.

Many believe that the committee is loaded with experts who believe that Kuno is not ready for relocation.

Chellam, who did Kuno habitat viable study in 1993, in his report to the Supreme Court had raised doubts over MP’s claim on prey base in Kuno to sustain lion population and adequacy of 344 sq kilometer of the park to provide second home to the big cats.

“Review of the most recent data provided by Madhya Pradesh reveals several flaws both with data collection methods as well as potentially with the analysis,” he said in his note to the court. Sinha had also raised doubts over Kuno’s ability to sustain relocation.

Madhya Pradesh forest department is not ready to take this criticism. “Any expert from anywhere in the world can visit Kuno and do a study on prey base,” said a senior MP forest department official. “Kuno may be 344 sq kms but it is part of contiguous forest of 4,000 sq kms. The limit of the park can be extended any time,” the official added.

Other than experts, MP government officials will also have to face charged Gujarat government officials, who have been directed to oppose the relocation tooth and nail.

Environment ministry officials, however, said all views would be taken into consideration and the committee may be expanded for wider scientific input. “Lions will not go there immediately. It will take some time,” an official said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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