The Government of Chhattisgarh, on advice of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), notified the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve, Chhattisgarh, as the 56th Tiger Reserve of the country.
- With this notification, Chhattisgarh is now home to 4 Tiger Reserves, which is bound to strengthen conservation of the species with ongoing technical and financial assistance from the National Tiger Conservation Authority under Project Tiger.
- The reserve covers Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur, Korea, Surajpur and Balrampur districts of Chhattisgarh.
- The tiger reserve, encompassing a total area of 2829.38 sq.kms, includes a core/critical tiger habitat of 2049.2 sq.kms, comprising the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary, and has a buffer of 780.15 sq.kms.
- This makes it the third largest tiger reserve in the country after Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh and Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam.
- The newly notified tiger reserve is contiguous with the Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh forming a landscape complex of nearly 4500 sq.kms.
- Further, the tiger reserve is connected to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh to the West and Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand to the East.
- Nestled in the Chota Nagpur plateau and partly in Baghelkhand plateau, the tiger reserve is blessed with varied terrains, dense forests, streams and rivers favourable for harbouring a rich faunal diversity and contains critical habitats for the tiger.
