Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday went on a safari with forest officials in Bandipur National Park, a tiger reserve spread across Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts of Karnataka.
In green attire, Modi went on a safari as part of the country celebrating 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’ launched on April 1, 1973. Bandipur was the first tiger reserve to be brought under ‘Project Tiger’ initiated to increase the number of tigers in the country.
Over his safari in Bandipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted “Spent the morning at the scenic Bandipur Tiger Reserve and got a glimpse of India’s wildlife, natural beauty and diversity.”
In an hour-and-half safari in Bandipur covering a distance of about 20-km, Modi sighted Elephants, Gaurs, Monitor Lizard, Spotted deer and Sambar. Inspector General of Forests, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Murali was with the Prime Minister in the safari.
The safari started from Melukammanahalli on the periphery of Bandipur National Park and entered the forests through the Bolagudda area of the Park. At the Bolagudda area, Modi had a brief stay and took a binocular to catch the panoramic view of the forests.
He covered Bellahalla before reaching Kekkahalla to enter Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu which shares the boundary with Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
Chief Conservator of Forests and Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve Ramesh Kumar said as per the tiger estimation 2019-20, Bandipur had a tiger population of 143. There were about 200 leopards in Bandipur in the All India Leopard estimation of 2018. Among 200 leopards, 153 are resident leopards of Bandipur and about 3,000 elephants in the Park.
Ramesh Kumar added there are 22 Spotted deer per square kilometer in Bandipur, 5-7 Indian Guars per square kilometer area having a healthy prey base for the tigers to prey upon.
However, the safari of Narendra Modi drew criticism from Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy who questioned Modi "Where was he when the State witnessed floods and during Covid pandemic?"
