Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India]: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav announced on Monday the notification of the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve, in Chhattisgarh, making it the 56th Tiger reserve in the country, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Highlighting the reserve on his social media handle on X, he said, “As India continues to touch new milestones in tiger conservation, we have notified Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla in Chhattisgarh as the 56th tiger reserve. Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve is spread over 2,829 sq km. India continues to work towards a green future where humans and animals cohabit in harmony.”
The Tiger reserve encompasses a total area of 2829.38 square kms includes a core/critical tiger habitat of 2049.2 square kms, comprising the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary, and has a buffer of 780.15 square kms. This makes it the third-largest tiger reserve in the country.
The reserve is across the Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur, Korea, Surajpur and Balrampur districts.
The largest tiger reserve in the country is Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger in Andhra Pradesh and second-largest is Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam.
“Keeping in view the landscape approach to conservation as envisaged in India’s National Wildlife Plan, the newly notified tiger reserve is contiguous with the Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh forming a landscape complex of nearly 4500 square 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,” read a statement by the environment ministry.
The Government of Chhattisgarh, on advice of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) notified the reserve.
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.
A total of 753 species, including 365 invertebrates and 388 vertebrates, have been documented from Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve by the Zoological Survey of India.
The invertebrate fauna is represented mostly by the class insecta. The vertebrate fauna includes 230 species of birds and 55 species of mammals comprising several threatened species from both the groups.
Chhattisgarh has a total of 4 tiger reserves.