Delhi: To secure a critical tiger habitat in Central India, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has pressed for the notification of Mansingh Deo Wildlife Sanctuary in a letter addressed to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

A part of the Kanha-Pench landscape, Mansingh Deo connects Pench National Park in Maharashtra to other forests in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and was first proposed for notification by MoEF in the late-1980s. However, the land along with other forests outside protected areas in Maharashtra, had been handed over to the Forest Development Corporation (FDC), which began clear-felling huge portions of these forests for teak monoculture.

Dr MK Ranjitsinh, Chairman, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) raised these issues with the Union Minister, alleging that the “FDC factor” was responsible for stalling of the notification.

Reacting to these concerns raised, the Union Minister cautioned that the denotification of the Nanaj Bustard Sanctuary, proposed by the State Wildlife Board early last year “may have to be kept in abeyance” unless Mansingh Deo is notified.

The initial proposal for Mansingh Deo WLS notification included about 180-200 sq km towards the west of Pench NP. Later, the state government considered three separate blocks (block I towards the west covering 49.84 sq km, block II in the southeast covering 65.58 sq km and block III towards the east covering 57.43 sq km) adjoining Pench NP, with a combined area of about 172 sq km. Subsequently, allegedly under FDC’s presssure, the government decided to exclude the first block, and to instead establish Pench Wildlife Sanctuary comprising the remaining two blocks.

“Ideally, the entire forest belt towards should have been declared a protected area, to act as buffer for Pench NP. However, this was not feasible according to the government as there are human settlements between blocks I and II. We have accepted this, but we cannot let the first block be excluded as this is a prime tiger habitat. We are proposing that Mansingh Deo WLS should be created including all three blocks in addition to the forests on the west of the first block,” said Prafulla Bhamburkar, Manager, WTI. “We are grateful to Shri Jairam Ramesh for this intervention,” he added.