Ooty: The Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) has been officially expanded by the addition of three reserved forests and tigers will have more space in the hills now.
It is pertinent to recall that DC had first carried reports in these columns on 17-8-2012, about the move to merge the Segur, Singara and Thengumarahada reserve forests with the MTR. It continued to report on the glitches in the issue and on 9-3-2018, the DC carried reports about the final stages of the 444 sq. ft area merger.
Now, it has become official that the reserved forests of Segur, Singara and Thengumarahada have been merged with the MTR. Thus, the MTR will have a total area of 765 sq. km, under its administrative control, including 321sq. km core area and 444 sq. km buffer zone bordering the core zone.
The merger means that the MTR boundary starts at the Kallhatti check-post, 15-km off this hill town. On the foot hill area it runs up to Thengumarahada bordering the Sathiyamangalam reserve forest in Erode.
Forest sources said that as a result of the merger, the MTR will have one field director and two deputy directors, one for the core zone and the other for the buffer zone. Mr. Pushparakan has already taken charge as the deputy director for the buffer zone of MTR.
The Nilgiris north and south forest divisions have been merged to make up the Nilgiris forest division. “It will take some more time for allotment of staff and other related procedures for the newly created administrative set up for forest administration,” sources added. Welcoming the merger with MTR, Mr. B. K. Kumaran, president of the Nilgiris Ecology and Animals Protection Samithi, said that this will certainly help in better managing of the MTR.
