Rajasthan all set to get fourth reserve for big cats

JAIPUR: Rajasthan is poised to get its fourth tiger reserve with the forest department deliberating on upgrading the Ramgarh Vishdhari wildlife sanctuary.


A proposal has been drafted and is likely to be sent to the chief wildlife warden this week for approval. The upgrade in the status is expected to strengthen the ongoing tiger conservation efforts in the state.

In 2013, the Rajasthan government had upgraded Mukundra hills sanctuary as the third tiger reserve.

The total area of 1017 sqkm that has been identified as the reserve area comprising two forest blocks of Bhilwara, territorial forest block of Bundi and Indargarh, which falls under buffer zone of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR). According to sources, Dabi forest area, where mining is prevalent, is also included in the tiger reserve.

A forest official said, “The state government has been advised to send proposal for declaring Ramgarh Vishdhari wildlife sanctuary by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The notification will be issued after NTCA gives its final approval.”

Prior to the formation of the state of Rajasthan, these forests were a part of the erstwhile Bundi princely states and were managed as hunting reserves. After Independence, these forests came under the control of the government of Rajasthan. In 1982, a part of the forest was declared as Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary under Section 5 of the Rajasthan Wild Animals and Birds Protection Act, 1951.

The tigers were believed to have disappeared from the sanctuary in 1999. Tapeshwar Singh Bhati, the president of the Mukundra Hills Environment and Wildlife Society, Kota said, “Three tigers were recorded in the 1997 census in the sanctuary. In April, three-and-a-half-year-old tiger, RT-91, of Ranthambhore reserve (RTR) was tranquilised by a wildlife department team at this sanctuary and relocated to Mukundra Tiger Hills Reserve (MHTR) after it strayed out.”

The core area of the Ramgarh Vishdhari has eight villages. The sanctuary currently has lepoards, sambhars, chitals, wild boars, smaller cats , caracals, chinkaras and nilgai.

Rajasthan’s chief wildlife warden Arindam Tomar has also put forward a proposal to the NTCA to shift the big cats to Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) and Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary in Bundi after the number of tigers in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR) has increased to the point that the reserve can no longer sustain the big cats.