Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary to be declaed tiger reserve

The parambikulam wildlife anctury will be declaed the second tiger reserve in the state by the end of the financial year within the task of identifying and notifying the core and buffer areas nearing completion by next month.Chief wildlife warden Ouseph told Express that there would not be any difficulty in declaring the sanctuary a tiger reserve. Forest minister Benoy Viswom had erlier declared that the Parambikulam sanctuary would be declared a tiger reserve.An expert committee was constituted with the chief conservator of forests (wildlife) as chairman and two scientists Dr Easa and Dr Balasubramaniam as members. They have already submitted a report.There will be two to three levels of department discussions and subsequently the modalities would be worked out and the proposal for declaring the parambikulam sanctuary as a tiger reservewill be submitted to the Kerala Government.The report will then be forwarded to the Centre for the declaration of the sanctuary as a tiger reserve.The declaration of the sanctuary as a tiger reserve would entitle the sanctuary for additional financial assistance. Last yeat, the sanctuary had received an assistance of Rs.1.03 crore based for the works it proposed to undertake as per the management plan. But tiger conservation being one of the priority areas of the Centre, the sanctuary would be entitled for additional funds once it is declared a tiger reserve. In the first phase it was proposed to identify and notify the crore and buffer areas of the Parambikulam sanctuary.As per the current proposal, of the 285 square km, sanctuary, around 235 km barring the areas housing the dam and buildings are likely to be declared the crore area.The buffer areas of rge tiger reserve would be drawn from certain ranges under the forest divisions of Nemmara, Vazhachal and Chalakudy.Forest Department sources said that since there were cries for the inclusion of areas like Neliampathy in the crore area of the Parambikulam tiger reserve, in order to avoid controversies it has been decided to include only the areas under the present Parambikulam sanctuary under the core area.It may be recalled that while environmentalists were demanding that the estates of Thoothampara, Beatris and Rosary estates in Neliampathu which were lying cheek by jowl to the Parambikulam sanctuary be included in the core area, the private estate lobby were totally againsty the inclusion.The Parambikulam sanctuary will become the second tiger reserve in the State after the Periyar which was declared in 1978.

 

The New Indian Express 15th May 2009