Recent newspaper reports on the letter addressed to Shri Digambar Kamat, Chief Minister of Goa by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Forests appears to snowball into a major controversy.
On the one hand, is the State Forest Department, keen to maintain that the tiger is only a transient wild animal appearing in Goa’s forests intermittently while being resident in neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra.
On the other hand, are a few environmentalists who claim that Goa indeed is home to the tiger and has been known to haunt the forests of Sattari taluka, often venturing to the villages and killing the occasional cattle.
Shri Jairam Ramesh, in his letter dated 28 June 2011 suggests that Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary be declared as a Tiger Reserve. The Minister does not elaborate how he has arrived at the conclusion that there is considerable local community support for the tiger reserve, when it is open knowledge that the villagers living adjacent and in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary are against the forest being declared a wildlife sanctuary.
The local MLAs – the father and son duo of the Rane family have been vocal against the decision taken by the then Governor of Goa to declare the forests of Sattari as a Sanctuary during the brief period of President’s Rule in the State.
The Forest Department is towing the line of the senior Rane into not only claiming that there are no tigers in the State but also by not recognizing the Sanctuary as an independent range for almost ten years since its declaration.
More than any constructive work, the newspapers as well as a few NGOs have used the issue as a point of ridicule engaging dialogues pointing inconsistencies in the stand taken by the Forest Department.
Environmentalists and scientists have used the topic for slander rather than carrying out scientific observations to provide evidence for or against presence of tigers in the State of Goa. The two leading newspapers in Goa thus have opposite stands in the whole issue.
While one ridicules the Forest Department every time the issue comes out for discussion while the other older newspaper comes up in support of the Forest Department.
Going by history of tiger reserves in the country, it is obvious that tiger reserves are viable only if there is a ground level participation of the locals as well as officials. A series of public hearings in the village panchayat level needs to be held on this issue by appointing a special committee as provided under the wildlife protection act.
Only after the completion of the process of public hearing, the Cabinet may deliberate on the issue and prepare and approve for or against the establishment of the tiger reserve. Any other recourse or hurried decision into the Union Minister’s proposal will only lead to more controversies and issues.
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