The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Government of Goa to notify the 208 sq. km. Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and its surrounding areas as a tiger reserve, and issue a notification within three months.
Key points
- A local NGO had sought direction to the Goa Government to notify the tiger reserves of the State as requested by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in terms of Section 38 (V) (1) of the Wildlife Protection Act.
- “If there is no forest, then the tiger gets killed; if there is no tiger, then the forest gets destroyed. Hence, the tiger protects the forest, and the forest guards the tiger!” the court said, quoting a Sanskrit verse from the Mahabharata, emphasising the importance of tiger conservation. The Sanskrit verse is: निर्वनो वध्यते व्याघ्रो निर्व्याघ्रं छिद्यते वनम्। तस्माद्व्याघ्रो वनं रक्षेद्वयं व्याघ्रं च पालयेत् .
- The Goa government had approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the High Court’s judgement.
- In March 2016, the NTCA recommended that the state government should notify a tiger reserve in the Cotigao-Mhadei forest complex.
- According to the 2014 Status of Tigers (Co-predators & Prey) in India report, the Cotigao-Mhadei forest complex of Goa comprises five protected areas: Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park, Bhagwan Mahavir National Park, Netravali Wild ife Sanctuary and Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary.
- They together cover an area of 750 sq mts, forming a contiguous belt connecting the forests of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
