A TIGER IN EVERY FORT?

When the CBI on March 11 arrested Balya Bawaria, last of the accused in two cases of tiger poaching in 2003-04 in Sariska, it brought back memories of big cats being wiped out from the tiger reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan.

- Rohit Parihar

That nightmare was followed by the first translocation of tigers in India—to Sariska, beginning 2008. Despite numerous tense moments and setbacks seen in the Sariska experiment, prominent politicians in Rajasthan are keen to replicate it for creating safe havens for tigers from Ranthambore at four places where the big cats used to live once upon a time. As Ranthambore National Park has reached its full capacity, male tigers are straying out and attacking each other and even humans. With the assembly election due next year, politicians are pushing for the new tiger homes to be located in their respective constituencies so that they can showcase it as their achievement.

While former CM Vasundhara Raje and her MP son, Dushyant Singh, are keen on tiger relocation to Durrah range of Mukundara Hill Tiger Reserve in Jhalawar district, Rajasthan urban development, and housing minister Shanti Dhariwal prefers a different part of the same reserve—Seljar range in Kota district. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla wants tigers to be relocated to Ramgarh Vishdhari in his native Bundi district, but Diya Kumari, who represents Rajsamand in the Lok Sabha, is pushing for Kumbhalgarh, which is in her constituency. Former Punjab governor V.P. Singh Badnore, who was head of the task force for the Sariska relocation experiment, however, insists that more tigers be brought there before planning for new reserves.