PANAJI
A seething Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday lashed out at his critics who have slammed his opposition to a tiger reserve in Goa, even as he shrugged off criticism on social media and reiterated the State was too small a state to afford a special forest reserve dedicated to the apex predator.
In a video message on Saturday, Rane also said that he does not need advice from NGOs, while adding that the Forest Ministry would hire retired forest officials for the purpose of wildlife management in the coastal state and its reserved forests.
“Many times people take one statement and they try to turn and twist it around without even understanding. A lot of these people who make these statements, you should go back and check their overall contribution to Goa,” Rane said.
“I want to ask these environmentalists how forest management has to take place. I am going to do this very professionally. I don’t require environmentalists or NGOs to advise me,” Rane also said.
On Friday, Rane had courted controversy after claiming that the tigers sighted in Goa’s forests were not resident tigers, stating that the animals were just passing through Goa from adjoining forests in Karnataka. Social media users had pointed to the
irony of Rane’s self-claimed obsession as a wildlife photographer, who travels far and wide to photograph wildlife and his vociferous opposition to carving out a tiger reserve in his own constituency.
But Rane appears to be unphased by the criticism. “If somebody thinks I am going to be disheartened or I am going to move aside from my existing agenda, no I am not. Tiger reserve is something meant for larger states because there are other complexities involved. There is no proposal as of now on my table or in Goa to make any kind of tiger reserve,” Rane said.
“My most passionate hobby is wildlife photography. I have spent more than 15-20 years in various forests understanding the forests, forest management, forest planning and I have seen that many times when a person makes a statement, many times people like to troll you on social media. Many times people even try to mock you without even understanding what the laws of the forests are,” he also said, adding that a tiger was one of his favourite animals.
Rane said that Goa was a small state and its own share of complexities could not afford a tiger reserve. “Goa has various issues such as core, buffer and several other issues which are there... What I am trying to say is that Goa is too small for a tiger reserve. We find tigers in the state of Goa through tiger traps that are put for movement of animals in the wildlife sanctuary,” the Forest Minister said.
Rane also said that he was trying to source retired experts for proper wildlife management in Goa in order to reduce the man-animal conflict and ensure that wild animals prosper in the state’s wilds.
“I am also trying to get a former field director who has been working in Bandhavgarh and other parts of Madhya Pradesh to help us in forest management and planning. We need to have a proper internal road for forest management and that is as per the forest act. We have to have an appropriate type of vegetation, management to be done there like chital, sambhar and bisons to be restricted to the forest areas,” he said.
“Many times people send videos (saying) there is a bison going out of a forest sanctuary and moving into the area where people are into agriculture because they do not get that type of vegetation and food in the forest sanctuaries. That means somewhere we are lacking,” he also said.
The Forest Minister also expressed unhappiness with the upkeep of the Salim Ali bird sanctuary and the Bondla sanctuary.
“I am not happy with what is existing. I want to do something which is totally different like camping sites in various villages so that they can be handed over to the community within forest areas. This is a provision of the Forest Act,” Rane said.
“The condition of the Salim Ali bird sanctuary is in a pathetic state. We require better infrastructure there. We require proper boats so that people and tourists can see around,” he added.
