Centre gives Rs 300 crore to WB for tiger conservation

The Centre has released over Rs 300 crore to West Bengal for conservation of tigers in Sunderban and Buxa sanctuaries of the state.

The fund was released soon after the West Bengal Government signed the tripartite pact in mid-October with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on behalf of the Centre and directors of the two tiger reserves.

A senior NTCA official said that around Rs 260 crores and Rs 38.58 crores were provided to Sunderban and Buxa sanctuaries respectively to make the parks free from human interference and their better management.

Under the government's rehabilitation policy, Rs 10 lakhs is being offered to each family to move out from the parks to make it safe for the endangered tigers whose number has declined to around 1,400 against 10,000 just a decade ago according to a recent official estimate.

Except Madhya Pradesh all tiger range states have signed a tripartite MoU mooted early this year by the Centre to make the governments as well field directors more accountable.

Though West Bengal was initially reluctant to sign the pact, it later fell in line after the Centre insisted that the pact was in the interest of the royal tigers. With the signing of the pact, all states have availed Central funds except Madhya Pradesh, which has five tiger reserves including Pench, Bandhavgarh, Kanha.