In a letter to Chief Minister K Rosaiah, Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh has stressed that this tiger reserve is co-terminus with the Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and therefore it would be "a fitting tribute to the memory of our late leader who was so passionate about environment and wildlife issues."
Ramesh, who paid a 2-day visit to the reserve last weekend, stressed urgency to put in place a strict grazing policy in the tiger reserve as over four lakh cattle entering it every year for grazing is "simply unsustainable."
Referring to the Centre's policy of providing compensation of Rs 10 lakhs per family for moving out of the core area around the tiger reserves, he stressed that the relocation needs to be expedited, particularly when 75 per cent of the families have agreed to move out. He asked the CM to delineate and notify the buffer zone around the core of the tiger reserve urgently to address the livelihood issues of the local people.
Ramesh has not only rejected widening of the highway passing through the reserve but also stressed that additional speed-breakers be built on the 2-lane highway to ensure the tigers are not run over.He expressed appreciation over deployment of 400 Chenchu youth for promotion and conservation efforts in the tiger reserve as also the initiatives taken to build a biodiversity research centre inside the reserve.
