One of the rest houses in Adina. (Surajit Roy)

Malda, Sept. 19: The Bengal forest department is looking for 300 acres in Jharkhali on the edge of the Sunderbans in South 24-Parganas to set up a tiger rescue centre.

“We have already received the green light from the Central Zoo Authority. Once the facility comes up, we will no longer have to send tigers rescued from the Sunderbans all the way to the state’s only rescue centre at South Khayerbari in Jalpaiguri district,” forest minister Ananta Roy said here today.

On August 22 this year, a tiger rescued from Jharkhali six months earlier was released in the South Khayerbari rescue centre. The tiger had a maimed left hind leg that had to be amputated at the Calcutta zoo hospital.

The minister also said a portion of the Calcutta zoo would be shifted to Bhagabanpur in South 24-Parganas. “In the first phase, we will shift water-dwelling animals like the hippos and crocodiles. We have 29 acres of land there and the rest will be bought to set up the 100-acre facility.”

Earlier in the day, Roy inaugurated three rest houses at Adina, Malda, where the forest department maintains a deer park.

“More and more tourists are now booking rooms in forest bungalows, but we cannot always accommodate all of them. Recently, however, the agitation in the hills has led to a sharp fall in the number of visitors to our 14 bungalows in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, although interest in the Dooars has picked up,” Roy said.