After tiger state, now cheetah state tag for MP?
Friday - February 28, 2020 1:52 pm ,
Category : MADHYA PRADESH
WTN- With the Supreme Court's final nod to a long-pending project of Cheetah Reintroduction, Madhya Pradesh can possibly become home to African Cheetahs from Namibia. The SC was hearing a petition filed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) seeking permission to reintroduce Cheetahs in India. In the past, a study was carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun which had said the Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in MP was fit to become home for the cheetahs.
However, there were other places too that were included in the list of possible homes for the big cat including Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in MP's Sagar district, Desert National Park in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer and Velavadar National Park in Gujarat. It was for a decade that the Cheetah Reintroduction project was lying in a limbo. However, the top court's heads up is being termed as a "historic moment" by wildlife lovers. At least half a dozen pairs will be needed to be brought to India for the reintroduction here.
Earlier the reintroduction talks were going on for Iran's Asiatic Cheetahs which did not fall in place. In case both the cheetahs and Asiatic lions are brought to MP, it will be the only place to have all four big cats - tiger, lion, leopard and cheetah in their natural habitat. Interestingly, the last three cheetahs that were shot dead by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Princely state of Sarguja (now in Chhattisgarh) belonged to MP itself. The former king had shot three Cheetahs in 1947, post which they were declared extinct in 1952.
The Wildlife Protection Act was enforced only in 1972 before which hunting was legal in India, and was considered as the royals' game. It is the only mammal which was declared extinct due to unnatural reasons. Before the Cheetah Reintroduction was considered, Kuno Palpur was chosen as the home for Asiatic Lions, that resulted in a fight between two state governments - Gujarat and MP, which is still undergoing at the SC. The MP government spent hundreds of crores of rupees to ready Kuno for the Asiatic lions which included relocation of several villages. The SC has now asked to reassess all the areas that were previously found to be apt for the cheetahs in India.
The apex court also ordered that an expert panel will guide NTCA, and the court itself will monitor it. It will be a win-win situation for state tourism if cheetahs and lions come to MP as the income generated out of tourism would be more than double. It will also help in generating local employment for the youth. NTCA filed a plea in front of the Supreme Court to seek permission for Cheetah Reintroduction way back in 2010. In 2013, the court declined the plea calling the cheetah a "foreign species".
In February 2019, NTCA told SC that cheetahs can be translocated to Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in MP. It had also said that there was no objection from the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In August 2019, a bench comprising of Justice SA Bobde (now CJI) and Justice BR Gavai had raised questions over the cheetah’s survival, to which NTCA through its advocate Wasim Qadri said that Nauradehi already had the presence of tigers and leopards. Finally, in 2020, the SC gave its nod for the Cheetah Reintroduction in India. Now MP needs to pitch for it and present its suitability in the best possible way to get the project in its favour. - Window To News
