Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary May Become 8th Tiger Reserve of MP, 1st One With Proximity to State Capital
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh state wildlife board has accorded approval to declare Ratapani wildlife sanctuary, on the outskirt of Bhopal, as eighth tiger reserve of MP.
The state wildlife board’s recommendation will be sent to the Centre for final approval to notify the wildlife sanctuary as the tiger reserve, a senior forest officer said on Monday.
“The state wildlife board in its last meeting has given the nod to declare Ratapani wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve. We have received the board’s proposal now”, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF)( wildlife) Subhranjan Sen told this newspaper.
The proposal to declare Ratapani wildlife sanctuary as tiger reserve has been hanging fire since 2008 for one reason or the other, sources said.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has accorded in principle approval to notify Ratapani wildlife sanctuary as the tiger reserve in 2011.
Ratapani tiger reserve, when notified, will be the first tiger reserve in the country to have proximity to a state capital.
After the Centre’s nod, the process for notifying the wildlife sanctuary as tiger reserve will begin and it may take another two months to complete the formalities of declaring it a tiger reserve, sources said.
The proposed tiger reserve will be the eighth one in Madhya Pradesh.
The seven other existing tiger reserves are Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Pench, Sanjay-Dubri, Satpura and Veerangana Durgavati.
The Ratapani wildlife sanctuary has a total 3123 wild animals including 56 tigers and 70 leopards, as per the 2022 census.
