NTCA team member Prerna Singh Bindra at VTR. Telegraph picture

Patna, Jan. 3: All is not well at Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR). Some security chinks came to the fore during a recent visit of a National Tiger Conservation Authority team to conduct the management effective evaluation of the reserve.

“The protection aspect needs to be strengthened at VTR. One of the major drawbacks on this front is the lack of anti-poaching camps inside the reserve. Such camps have been set up in most of the tiger reserves in the country,” NTCA team member Prerna Singh Bindra, who visited the reserve, told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi today.

She said steps should be taken to have adequate number of anti-poaching camps so that round-the-clock vigil could be maintained inside the reserve.

Bindra was also shocked over the non-transfer of the National Tiger Conservation Authority funds to the reserve by the state government even more than four months after receiving it.

“Crucial work gets delayed and frontline employees like tiger trackers and others do not get paid for months. This is simply not done,” she said.

Bindra also expressed concern over shortage of manpower. Her concern is not ill founded. Against a sanctioned strength of 77 forest guards, VTR has only 40 and there are 15 foresters against the sanctioned strength of 22.

Against the sanctioned strength of 10 ranger officers and three conservators of forest, the reserve has only seven ranger officers and two assistant conservators of forest.

Reacting to Bindra’s observations, Bihar chief wildlife warden Mithilesh Kumar said: “We are working on a proposal. If approved, it will lead to setting up of more anti-poaching camps inside the reserve.”

On the delay in funds transfer, Kumar said the process was delayed because of the Assembly elections. “The funds will reach VTR within a week,” he said.

Kumar added the department was aware of the shortage of employees at the reserve and had taken steps to address the issue.

Bindra said the state government should pay more attention to the reserve because it is the easternmost limit of the Shivalik-Gangetic landscape (the Terai arc) that has been recognised as a crucial tiger landscape.

The reserve is also near the Chitwan and Parsa National Parks in Nepal. Even though VTR has tremendous potential, the tiger-prey density is low.

“The fundamental problem here is that the state has not yet declared the core critical tiger habitat. Bihar is the only state not to have done so. It reflects the lack of focus of the state on Valmiki Tiger Reserve,” she added.

Bindra had something good to say about the reserve as well.

She was all praise for the state government for putting an effective check on mining in the Pandai river that flows near the boundary of the reserve.