PANAJI
Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane on Friday said there is no question of carving out a tiger reserve in Goa because tigers spotted in the State are not resident animals, but beasts who are merely using the forests of Goa as a transitionary corridor.
Speaking to reporters here, Vishwajit also said that the State does not have a single resident tiger, adding that his view on wildlife and sanctuary management is based on his passion for wildlife photography, which he said had taken him to several sanctuaries across the country.
"I have been hearing about tiger, tiger, tiger, tiger for the last few days. The tiger enters Goa through a corridor before exiting (the State). There are no resident tigers. There is no need to set up a tiger reserve in Goa, and as long as I am a minister, there is no question of a tiger reserve. Some people like my firm and bold statements, some do not," Vishwajit said when asked to respond to the controversy related to setting up a Tiger Reserve in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, which is spread over the Forest Minister's political turf of Sattari.
"The tiger survey is different from a tiger census. Some people do not understand these issues and they try to distract people. As long as I am Forest Minister, a responsibility given to me by the Chief Minister and the central leadership, we will be functioning as a people-friendly department. The Forest department needs to work along with the people. I will not allow any conflict with the people. We will take people-oriented and people-centric decisions," Vishwajit told reporters.
Rane also said that the Forest portfolio had a lot of scopes and that he would try to encourage ecotourism avenues' in Goa's wilds and attempt to make the State's wildlife sanctuaries more popular.
"Our focus will be on development of forest, whether it is Mahavir Sanctuary or Cotigao sanctuary, we will work on how to attract people there, start camping sites, how we can involve the local communities to provide employment," he said.
"We have scheduled a meeting of forest officers and forest guards from Monday. I have told officers to improve facilities at Bondla. We can experiment a lot too when it comes to promoting ecotourism in forest areas in Goa," Vishwajit added.
The Forest Minister also said that he is passionate about tigers himself, describing himself as an avid wildlife photographer.
