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Hindustan Times
29-07-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
International Tiger Day: Relocation of villagers from Jharkhand's Palamu reserve forest begins
Ranchi/Medininagar, The Jharkhand forest department has initiated a process to relocate residents of 35 villages inside the Palamau Tiger Reserve to ensure that the big cats get a better habitat, officials said on Tuesday. International Tiger Day: Relocation of villagers from Jharkhand's Palamu reserve forest begins Around 160 people living in Jaigir village in the forest limits have already been relocated outside the reserved area, he said. "People of the Jaigir village have been relocated to Polpol, located outside the reserved area, in Palamu district. The process has been initiated to relocate the people of two more villages - Kujrum and Laatu," PTR Director S R Natesh told PTI. Around 35 villages with nearly 10,000 people are located in the core area of the reserve forest, which often leads to human-animal conflicts, another official said. Of the 1,129.93 sq km area of PTR, 414.08 sq km is marked as the core area, a critical tiger habitat, and the remaining 715.85 sq km as the buffer zone. Out of the total area, 226.32 sq km is designated as Betla National Park, and in the buffer zone, 53 sq km is open for tourists. "People of all 35 villages will be relocated outside the reserved area in a phased manner. In the first phase, residents of 10 villages - three in the south division and seven in the north of the PTR - will be shifted," PTR Deputy Director Prajesh Jena told PTI. There are around 80 houses in Laatu and over 50 in Kujrum. Ten families from Kujrum have already been shifted to Polpol, he said. "After shifting the people of the three villages, we will relocate seven more from the Mandal dam area to Lai-Paila Pathal village in Sarju block of Latehar district. Similarly, people of 10 villages will be shifted in the second phase," Jena said. The PTR authorities have set a target to relocate all 35 villages in the next three years, he said. According to the PTR relocation policy, each man, aged 18 years and above, has been considered a single unit or family and would be entitled to either ₹15 lakh in cash or two hectares of land parcel, Jena added. Based on camera images and other evidence, it also claimed to have captured the movement of six tigers. As per the 2023 All India Tiger Estimation report, the reserve had one tiger. Established in 1974 under Project Tiger, the 1,129-sq-km Palamau Tiger Reserve was once considered a habitat for a thriving population of big cats - 22 in 1972 and a peak of 71 in 1995, according to former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests , Jharkhand, Pradeep Kumar's 2016 book 'Main Baagh Hoon'. Thereafter, the population of big cats declined to 44 in 1997, 34 in 2002, 10 in 2010, and 3 in 2014, according to the book. According to wildlife experts, human interference and reduced prey base are the major hurdles to tiger growth. On the occasion of International Tiger Day, the PTR authority organised various activities to spread awareness among people about tiger habitat and the protection of the big cats. A study report on Bison, popularly known as Gaur, was also released on the occasion. The total population of Gaurs recorded in PTR is 68, primarily concentrated in Betla and Chhipadohar East forest ranges, the officials said. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Time of India
2 carcasses found in Kaziranga, 5 tiger deaths reported in Assam this year
1 2 3 Guwahati: Days after the brutal killing of an adult Royal Bengal tiger by a mob in Golaghat district, officials revealed on Sunday that two more tiger carcasses — a cub and a full-grown adult — were discovered in Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) over the past two days. With these two carcasses, the total number of reported tiger deaths in Assam this year has risen to five, sparking concern among conservationists. On Sunday morning, forest staff discovered the carcass of a tiger cub in the Burhapahar range of Kaziranga (Nagaon district). A day earlier, the decomposed remains of an adult tiger were recovered from a wooded area in the Kohora range of Golaghat district. Eastern Assam wildlife division's divisional forest officer (DFO) Arun Vignesh said, a postmortem was performed before the carcass was cremated. "According to doctors, the tiger (found in Kohora) likely died around 10 days ago. Since its body parts were intact, preliminary investigations suggest a natural death," the DFO said, adding that a final confirmation would come after the detailed postmortem report. The sex of the tiger could not be determined due to the state of decomposition. In the second case, a postmortem on the carcass of the tiger cub was carried out at the site. "It appears the cub's death resulted from injuries sustained in an attack by another tiger, likely due to infighting," the DFO said. Preliminary findings indicate the cub was a 12-month-old male. After the examination, the carcass was cremated. Kaziranga is home to an estimated 104 tigers, according to the last All India Tiger Estimation conducted in 2022. These incidents follow last week's mob killing of a Royal Bengal tiger in Khumtai (Golaghat district). Prior to these three recent cases, two other tiger carcasses had already been found this year — one in Orang National Park and another in Biswanath Wildlife Division — intensifying concerns over tiger conservation. The Royal Bengal tiger is listed as "endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species and is protected under India's Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
