Bhubaneswar, June 30: Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh has urged Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik to personally intervene and initiate steps for the protection of the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.

The stretch of forest, including Similipal Reserve Forest, which is spread over an area of 2,750 sqkm was declared as a ‘tiger reserve’ on April 12, 1973, under the ‘Project Tiger’ scheme of the central government. It has already been conferred with legal status.

However, the Similipal Park is increasingly becoming a hunting ground for the poachers. After the Maoists entered into the park area, it has become a difficult task for the Orissa government to keep a tab on the movement of poachers.

The number of tigers has dwindled in the reserve. As per the Wildlife Institute's report, the park has only 23 tigers. However, Orissa government has disputed this report. As per the Orissa government’s claim, the Similipal reserve has 61 tigers of which 16 are males, 31 females and 14 cubs.

“Now the state has 111 personnel in the STPF who are working for the protection of the tigers,” said a government official.

In a letter to the chief minister, the Union minister has said that a small contingent of Orissa’s armed forces needed 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 ritual of tribals),” said Ramesh.

'The frontline staff of Similipal should be provided with fire arms (as done in other reserves in the country) with necessary training by the local police. This is essential to boost the morale of the staff. The entry and exit points, besides traditional pathways leading to the reserve, should be manned by armed frontline staff,” the minister stated in his letter.

The state armed forces deployed at present inside the park should be directed to participate in joint patrolling of the areas along with the local staff.

Capacity building of frontline staff needs to be done, besides filling up the vacancies. “The process of raising, arming and deploying the special tiger protection force needs to be expedited,” he said.

The buffer area of Similipal needs to be brought under the unified administrative control of the field director for effectively implementing eco-development work in the area.

“The in-situ build up of prey population within the tiger reserve needs to be done vis-à-vis the guidelines issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA),” Ramesh said.

Ramesh assured the Orissa government to provide a wildlife biologist on contractual basis from the NTCA to provide technical assistance to the field director of Similipal Tiger Reserve.

There are 4 villages inside the Critical Tiger Habitat and 65 villages in the buffer area inside the Similipal reserve.

Earlier, the Orissa government had urged the Centre to arrange training of local youths recruited for the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) for Similipal Tiger Reserve at the training centres meant for the central forces like Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force.

Bhubaneswar, June 30: Union environment and forests minister, Jairam Ramesh has urged chief minister Naveen Patnaik to personally intervene and initiate steps for the protection of the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.

The stretch of forest including Similipal reserve forest spread over an area of 2750 sq km was declared as ‘tiger teserve’ with effect from April 12, 1973 under ‘Project Tiger’ scheme of the Central government. It has already been conferred with legal status.

However, the Simlipal park is increasingly becoming a hunting ground for the poachers.

After the Maoists entered into the park area, it has become a difficult task for the State government to keep a tab on the movement of poachers.

Meanwhile,the number of tigers has dwindled in the reserve and as per the Wildlife Institute's report, the park has only 23 tigers. However, Orissa government has disputed this report. As per the State government’s claim, the Similipal reserve has 61 tigers of which 16 are males, 31 females and 14 cubs.

“ Now the State has 111 personnel in the STPF who working for the protection of the tigers,” said State government official.

In a letter to chief minister Patnaik, Union minister Ramesh said a small contingent of State armed forces needed to be deployed in some of the villages on the fringe the core zone. “ This needs to be done especially in those villages which have the tradition of 'akhand shikar' (mass hunting ritual of tribals,” said Ramesh.

'The front line staff of Similpal should be provided with fire arms ( as done in other reserves in the country) with necessary training by the local police. This is essential to boost up the morale of staff. The entry and exit points, besides traditional pathways leading to the reserve, should be manned by the armed front line staff,” the minister stated in his letter.

The State armed forces deployed at present inside the park should be directed to participate in joint patrolling of the areas along with the local staff.

The capacity building of front line staffs needs to be done, besides filling up the vacancies. “ The process of raising, arming and deploying the special tiger protection force needs to be expedited.,” he opined

The buffer area of Similipal needs to be brought under the unified administrative control of the field director for effectively implementing the eco development works in the areas.

“ The in-situ build up of prey population within the tiger reserve needs to be done vis-à-vis the guidelines issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)” suggested Ramesh said.

Ramesh assured the State government to provide a wildlife biologist on contractual basis from the NTCA to provide technical assistance to the field director of Similipal tiger reserve.

There are 4 villages inside the Critical Tiger Habitat and 65 villages in the buffer area inside the Similipal reserve.

Earlier, the Orissa government had urged the Centre to arrange training of local youths recruited for the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) for Similipal tiger reserve at the training centres meant for the central forces like Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force..