Madhya Pradesh: Forest belt flush with tigers, but not a reserve

A forest dept official said that, initially, local public representatives including local BJP MLA Gauri Shankar Bisen supported the proposal for a sanctuary.

Sonewani, a 180sq km forest belt in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, has 49 tigers, according to the 2022 tiger estimation report, more than the number of big cats in 32 of the 53 tiger reserves in India — but it is neither a tiger reserve nor a wildlife sanctuary. Reason: Four manganese ore mines, two of which are leased to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and his brother.

A proposal declaring Sonewani as a sanctuary was withdrawn, largely due to the presence of four manganese mines there. (HT Photo)

The Madhya Pradesh forest department noticed the presence of a large number of tigers in the region and in early 2022, recommended that Sonewani Vanya Jeev Anubhav Kshetra should be declared a wildlife sanctuary. In November 2022, the Madhya Pradesh wildlife board headed by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved the proposal to declare Sonewani as a sanctuary and a proposal notification was also issued for further process.

In July this year, the state government released an order saying the notification had been withdrawn, without giving any reason. Officials, however, said that the presence of four manganese mines was the prime reason for withdrawing the proposal as local BJP leaders opposed the decision. “The reason of withdrawing was opposition by the local public representatives, who are part of district planning committee,” said Balaghat chief conservator of forest APC Sengar.

Balaghat BJP district treasurer, Kiran Bhai Trivedi, who owns one of the mines, welcomed the decision saying it would save the local mining industry. “Our family has been in mining business for the past seven decades. The sanctuary will only create problem for the manganese mining industry,” he admitted.

Three companies, APT Minerals owned by Kiran Bhai Trivedi, JK Minerals owned by Pradyuman Bhai Trivedi, brother of Kiran Bhai Trivedi, and Pacific Minerals, whose director is Vedanand Roy, run four mines with annual production of about 60,000 metric tonnes, said a local mining department official, who asked not to be named.

Trivedi is Balaghat district BJP treasurer.

A forest department official said that, initially, local public representatives including BJP leader and area MLA Gauri Shankar Bisen supported the proposal for a sanctuary. However, he changed his mind when the district planning committee headed by Hardeep Singh Dang, who is also MP’s environment minister and in-charge of Balaghat district, rejected the proposal two months ago. When contacted, Bisen did not respond to the question on why he opposed the proposal after supporting it.

Dang did not respond to HT’s queries. Vijay Shah, the forest minister, said the decision was taken on basis of recommendation of the district planning committee.

District collector Girish Sharma said there’s little that can be done now. “We can’t do anything because the decision was taken by planning committee.”

While a Bagalaghat BJP leader, who asked not to be named, claimed that the villagers don’t want Sonewani to be declared as a wildlife sanctuary, residents of all three villages inside the proposed sanctuary said they favoured the proposal.

Babulal Wale, 44, resident of Navegaon village, which falls inside the proposed sanctuary, said: “My village is about 10km from Lalbarra, which is the closest market, and we have no transportation facility. Our children has to travel 10km to reach high and higher secondary schools. We can’t farm because wild animals destroy the crop and tigers also kill our cattle. We have been demanding relocation.”

The gram pradhans of all three villages, Navegaon, Chiklabadi and Sonewani, wrote a letter on January 10, 2023 to the district collector and forest officials to develop the area as sanctuary and shift them out of the forest. In the letter, all three said: “ We are facing hardship for the past three generations. We don’t have any legal rights on the land and now our freedom is curtailed due to presence of large number of wild animals especially tigers.”

Wale said there was hope when the government proposed to declare the area as wildlife sanctuary. Once a forest area is declared a wildlife sanctuary or a tiger reserve, there is a provision to give compensation to people to relocate. In the initial survey, 193 families were found living in the three forest villages. Each family would have received 15 lakh for rehabilitation. “Our hope was dashed when the proposal was withdrawn under the pressure of manganese miners,” Wale claimed.

Navegaon’s gram pradhan Gyan Singh said the miners have also been spreading the narrative that villagers will not get any compensation if the area is declared sanctuary. “We are fighting to improve our lives and sanctuary was the only hope. A few people influenced by miners are trying to misguide villagers to oppose the sanctuary.”

Local environmentalist, Sikander Mishra, said the area is rich in flora and fauna and is being exploited by outsiders as it was not a protected zone under the Wildlife Protection Act. “We have been demanding that it be made a wildlife sanctuary so that it gets legal protection. All local leaders including area MP and MLA had earlier supported the proposal but the proposal was withdrawn under the pressure of local mine owners.”

Trivedi, however, refuted the charge.

“We are giving royalty of ₹5-6 crore every month to the government. We are contributing a lot to the industry and giving employment to hundreds of locals directly and indirectly. All the mines are in the forest area. If the area is declared sanctuary, it will mean a loss for the state government.”

Forest official Sengar admitted that villagers are also scared since the tiger population is estimated to be 63 in Balaghat and 49 in Sonewani.

Bhopal based environmentalist and RTI activist Ajay Dubey said, “To protect the mines, the proposal of wildlife sanctuary Sonewani cancelled. We will move to the court against it .”

The detailed tiger estimation report 2022 showed that the forest corridor between Kanha and Pench tiger reserves has 97 tigers, highest for any corridor connecting two tiger habitats in India. Of these, 49 have made Sonewani in Balaghat their home. In fact, the corridor has more tigers than Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, Panna Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala.

But it isn’t a tiger reserve -- at least in name.Al