Maharashtra gets its sixth tiger reserve in Wardha

Mumbai: The wildlife and environment lovers have a reason to celebrate as the Ministry of Environment & Forests has approved the proposal by the Maharashtra government for notifying Bor Wildlife Sanctuary in Wardha district of Maharashtra as a tiger reserve.

It becomes the sixth tiger reserve in Maharashtra after Tadoba, Melghat, Pench, Nagzira and Sahyadri, and the 47th tiger reserve in the country.

Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar approved the recommendation to declare 13,812 hectares area of Bor Sanctuary, New Bor Sanctuary and New Bor Extended Wildlife Sanctuary as a core/critical tiger habitat. Javadekar is also the Chairman of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

The Bor Wildlife Sanctuary, notified by the state in 1970, is rich in biodiversity with a wide variety of flora and fauna, including tiger, co-predators, prey animals and birds. The habitat is scenic and is situated on the boundary of Nagpur and Wardha districts, amidst the Satpura-Maikal landscape, forming catchments of the river Bor. The sanctuary is also an important corridor between Tadoba-Andhari and Pench Tiger Reserves of the state.

With Project Tiger coverage, the reserve would receive funding and technical support which would strengthen tiger conservation, besides eco-development to benefit fringe people.

The Union Environment Minister also approved the recommendations of the Technical Committee of the Authority for a project from the Wildlife Institute of India to establish ecological baselines for long-term monitoring of tigers, co-predators and prey species in the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining landscapes in Arunachal Pradesh, besides supporting the extension of an ongoing research project on intensive monitoring and study of tiger dispersal in the Kanha Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.