KUMBHALGARH TIGER RESERVE THE 5TH TIGER RESERVE OF RAJASTHAN

There are four tiger reserves in Rajasthan such as Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary, Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserve and Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary. The State of Rajasthan will get its fifth tiger reserve in the form of Kumbhalgarh. The reserve will be expanded roughly in four districts of Rajasthan namely Udaipur, Pali, Sirohi and Rajsamand. The confidential report has been sent to the environment ministry. According to the report, the reserve will be formed in a 2,053 sq km area.

In early 2022, a National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) report ruled out the possibility of declaring Rajasthan's Kumbhalgarh wildlife sanctuaries as a tiger reserve because of some vital reasons. Firstly, a decision has been formed to relieve congestion of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. It is pertinent to mention that Ranthambore had 79 tigers in July 2021 when the state forest department conducted the last estimation. Secondly, Kumbhalgarh had tigers existence till the 1970s and hence, the landscaping of Kumbhalgarh is appropriate for tigers here.

After conducting a survey of the area, a four-member committee has also given its nod to making Kumbhalgarh a tiger reserve. Vinod Kumar Rai, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Wildlife Rajsamand in an interview with me stated that the state government of Rajasthan with the forest department are working to fill up the prerequisites like the number of prey base, staff and wildlife vehicles, etc mentioned by the NTCA for developing the area as a Tiger Reserve. Once these criteria will be followed completely the team of NTCA will again review after three years in 2024 and then the decision would be taken to declare the Kumbhalgarh as the fifth tiger reserve of Rajasthan or not.

The tiger reserve will be formed in two phases. The width of the Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary is narrow i.e. around 9 to 10 km. Hence, it is planned that more land would be acquired to broaden or for the expansion of that area. During the first phase of the project 1150 sq km of land falling under the revenue department of Udaipur, Pali, Sirohi and Rajsamand districts will be transferred to wildlife. From four districts 526 sq km of forest area will be transferred to the wildlife. Similarly, 624 sq km of revenue wasteland will also be transferred and developed as the buffer zone of the Kumbhalgarh reserve. In the second phase of the project, as per the planning of the state government of Rajasthan by NTCA tiger reintroduction plan will be generated in the year 2024-25. After that, the tigers will be relocated and released into the reserve. Initially, at least one pair will be released. And the entire budget will be given by the central government.

The wildlife of Kumbhalgarh includes the Indian wolf, Indian leopard, sloth bear, striped hyena, Golden jackal, jungle cat, sambhar, nilgai, chausingha (the four-horned antelope), chinkara and Indian hare. The leopard is the apex predator in the sanctuary and therefore, Kumbhalgarh is more appropriate for leopards. According to a wildlife census, between 300 to 400 leopards are found in and around the Kumbhalgarh and in the entire Rajsamand district. For this project as an apt move to develop the area as a tiger reserve, three villages have to be relocated and at large 18 villages will be shifted. In the periphery, there is a total of 20 small villages and a plan to relocate these villages needs to be formed. According to Vinod Kumar Rai, “The decision of relocating these villages have been taken as 10 villages among these total number of 18 are already forest villages. Three other villages willingly want to relocate and need compensation.”

He further stated that planning to develop around four to five thousand hectares of grassland should be developed. Also, a prebase survey will be conducted by the team of the Wildlife Institute of India to know the actual number of prey here for tigers. It is also recommended that through big enclosures, breeding centres will be designed for cheetals, chinkaras, nilgai and sambhars so that later these animals will be released into the forest. In February 2022 around 25 Chinkara, Nilgai and Sambhar were being raised from Jalore into a soft enclosure with the intent to release their offspring in the Kumbhalgarh wildlife sanctuary

The members of the NTCA and MP Diya Kumari criticized the state government for dragging its feet to declare the sanctuary as a tiger reserve. GV Reddy, who retired as the Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan about a year ago, said that this region is known for the striped hyena and the wolf, which too are endangered instead of more tiger sanctuaries, what the state needs are sanctuaries that cater to the less wellknown species that face threats from rampant stone mining and alterations in their habitats.