Illegal activities start before sunrise and continue till around 10 am.
The rampant illegal mining inside critical tiger habitat of the
Ranthambore National Park (RNP) in Sawai Madhopur is not only posing
threat to the ecology of the park but it is also a serious threat to the
big cats.
Experts assert that for the disappearance of at least 12 tigers including four cubs since 2010-11 and death of a tiger in December 2012 was due to the illegal mining mafia. The tigers missing from the park since 2010-11 include T-29, T-40, T-21 and tigresses T-17, T-27, T-31, besides two cubs each of T-11 and T-13, one cub each of T-8 and T-9.
The most notorious area of mining has been Kundera range of the park. Illegal mining has been rampant in regions like, Uliyana, Ainda, Shyampura, Basaun-Khurd and Badhlaw villages - all inside the critical tiger habitat. These activities start before sunrise and continue till around 10 am on a daily basis, sources pointed out.
In one of the glaring examples tigress T-17 disappeared some three months back leaving behind her 3 cubs in her territory around Badhlaw Talab (lake) close to Uliyana village in Kundera range of the park. Experts including Rajasthan's former chief of forest and principal chief conservator of forests R.N. Mehrotra asserted that poaching of T-17 could not be ruled out.
Dhirendra Godha, an expert on RNP tigers, was of the opinion that absence of intensive monitoring was the reason behind illegal activities. Expressing concern over the lack of safety of the big cats in RNP he said that if mother-tigress was not safe (T-17) her three cubs that she left behind were endangered in the area.
Another tigress T-37 disappeared from Indala region of the park around same time. Forest department didn't think it proper even to conduct any inquiry into their disappearance. On December 23 carcass of a big cat was discovered in the Khandar range. Strangely the department could neither identify the animal so far nor could ascertain the exact reason for the death despite instituting two different inquiries.
During 2010-11 four big cats - T29, T40, T21 (all males) and tigress T27 were found disappearing but the matter was hushed up without fixing any responsibility, notwithstanding an inquiry by then additional principal chief conservator of forest AC Chaubey. In his report he maintained that two big cats could have been dead (with no carcass found) while two other could return in future if tracked properly; but the fact remains they never returned or found. However, the report was never sent to the RNP for follow up.
Giriraj Singh Kushwaha, IAS, who was district collector of Sawai Madhopur till early this month before he was transferred to planning department, Jaipur, while talking to Mail Today conceded that mining activities had been going on in the tiger habitat in Uliyana, Khandar, Malarna, Ainda, Shyampura and other regions of the park. "I had in fact seized 5 JCBs from the illegal mine operators and imposed penalty of Rs.2 lakh for each JCB not long ago", he said. He had also served notices on two rangers of the RNP for not patrolling their respective areas as was mandatory. However, it didn't help stopping the illegal activities.
Kushwaha didn't rule out the possibility of poaching of the missing big cats by the mine operators. Divisional forest officer (DFO) Rahul Bhatnagar though conceded that illegal mining was going on in the park but asserted that it was not rampant. "Illegal mining was going on as clandestine activity and was on the decrease currently due to rains. We are alert on this front", he maintained.
Experts assert that for the disappearance of at least 12 tigers including four cubs since 2010-11 and death of a tiger in December 2012 was due to the illegal mining mafia. The tigers missing from the park since 2010-11 include T-29, T-40, T-21 and tigresses T-17, T-27, T-31, besides two cubs each of T-11 and T-13, one cub each of T-8 and T-9.
The most notorious area of mining has been Kundera range of the park. Illegal mining has been rampant in regions like, Uliyana, Ainda, Shyampura, Basaun-Khurd and Badhlaw villages - all inside the critical tiger habitat. These activities start before sunrise and continue till around 10 am on a daily basis, sources pointed out.
In one of the glaring examples tigress T-17 disappeared some three months back leaving behind her 3 cubs in her territory around Badhlaw Talab (lake) close to Uliyana village in Kundera range of the park. Experts including Rajasthan's former chief of forest and principal chief conservator of forests R.N. Mehrotra asserted that poaching of T-17 could not be ruled out.
Dhirendra Godha, an expert on RNP tigers, was of the opinion that absence of intensive monitoring was the reason behind illegal activities. Expressing concern over the lack of safety of the big cats in RNP he said that if mother-tigress was not safe (T-17) her three cubs that she left behind were endangered in the area.
Another tigress T-37 disappeared from Indala region of the park around same time. Forest department didn't think it proper even to conduct any inquiry into their disappearance. On December 23 carcass of a big cat was discovered in the Khandar range. Strangely the department could neither identify the animal so far nor could ascertain the exact reason for the death despite instituting two different inquiries.
During 2010-11 four big cats - T29, T40, T21 (all males) and tigress T27 were found disappearing but the matter was hushed up without fixing any responsibility, notwithstanding an inquiry by then additional principal chief conservator of forest AC Chaubey. In his report he maintained that two big cats could have been dead (with no carcass found) while two other could return in future if tracked properly; but the fact remains they never returned or found. However, the report was never sent to the RNP for follow up.
Giriraj Singh Kushwaha, IAS, who was district collector of Sawai Madhopur till early this month before he was transferred to planning department, Jaipur, while talking to Mail Today conceded that mining activities had been going on in the tiger habitat in Uliyana, Khandar, Malarna, Ainda, Shyampura and other regions of the park. "I had in fact seized 5 JCBs from the illegal mine operators and imposed penalty of Rs.2 lakh for each JCB not long ago", he said. He had also served notices on two rangers of the RNP for not patrolling their respective areas as was mandatory. However, it didn't help stopping the illegal activities.
Kushwaha didn't rule out the possibility of poaching of the missing big cats by the mine operators. Divisional forest officer (DFO) Rahul Bhatnagar though conceded that illegal mining was going on in the park but asserted that it was not rampant. "Illegal mining was going on as clandestine activity and was on the decrease currently due to rains. We are alert on this front", he maintained.
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