Chandrapur, 03 July (HS): Preparations for the tiger

census 2026 in 19 tiger reserves in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and

Chhattisgarh have begun. A two-day meeting of regional directors of Central

India was held at Chandrapur’s Forest Academy, under the aegis of

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Project and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Besides reviewing preparations for the Tiger Census 2026, issues related to

protection of tigers were discussed.

Additional Director General (Project Tiger) of the

NTCA and member secretary, Dr Govind Sagar Bharadwaj, Inspector General

(Forest) Dr Sanjayan Kumar, member Rahul Bhatnagar, and Central India Region’s

Assistant Inspector General (Forest) Nandkishor Kale were prominent among those

present.

Dr Bharadwaj spoke about long-term measures to

improve habitat, biodiversity protection, sustainable grazing areas, and reducing

man-animal conflict. He also laid emphasis on decentralised control over

enforcement of programmes.

During the technical session, data relating to the

tiger projects was presented. Discussions on monitoring protocols, deaths of

tigers, tiger conservation plans and their programmes and evaluation of

managing capacity were held.

The representatives of 19 tiger projects shared

their experiences and their innovative ideas in the projects.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar