DO NOT DISTURB: The stark beauty of the Sunderbans. A Telegraph picture

Sanjana Basu: We read a lot about the ecology of the Sunderbans. Is the development work there geared to maintain the ecological balance?

There is no question of the development work disturbing the ecological balance of the Sunderbans. In fact, the deltaic area has been divided into three parts. In the first part, the fringe areas of the forest, you will find settlements. Next, in the middle area, such as Sajnekhali and Sudhanyakhali, where we restrict habitation but allow people to visit as tourists or to fetch jungle products. The next part is the core area, where we restrict movement of common people and they can only enter there after getting permission from our forest office. We have a fund from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to organise camps to prevent poaching or destruction of the jungles. It is also used to impart education about the tigers. In any case, we do not allow any initiative in the jungle areas by private entrepreneurs that may affect the peace and ecology.