BHOPAL, INDIA — The Madhya Pradesh government has put a stop to a projected 17,000 square kilometer cheetah corridor project that would have connected 10 districts in Madhya Pradesh with seven in Rajasthan. This is a big step forward for India’s cheetah reintroduction program. The choice was made to let the cheetah population at Kuno National Park (KNP) and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary stabilize and flourish before giving them more space.
In November of last year, the two state governments and the Cheetah Project Steering Committee talked about the corridor project. The initiative was also in Rajasthan’s budget for this year, and the state asked the World Wildlife Institute to perform a reconnaissance of the corridor But Madhya Pradesh hasn’t responded in a while, which means the project is on hold.
Ashok Varnwal, Madhya Pradesh’s additional chief secretary, acknowledged the suspension and said, “There is no point in developing a cheetah corridor at this stage.” He said that the most important thing is to make sure the idea works by first raising the number of cheetahs.
India’s big plan to bring cheetahs back to the country started in September 2022. The last cheetah in India died in 1947. So far, 20 cheetahs have been transported to Kuno National Park. Eight came from Namibia in 2022 and twelve came from South Africa in 2023.
A forest department official, who didn’t want to be named, talked about the project’s practical problems at this point. “The cheetahs from Kuno National Park are heading toward Rajasthan. “We bring them back because we can’t leave cheetahs alone,” the official stated. There are only two cheetahs at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. A cheetah corridor doesn’t make sense. The official also said that the corridor will only be built when the number of people living in the area exceeds the capacity of the current sanctuaries.
The choice to put the corridor project on hold also comes after Kuno National Park stopped work on a roadway project. The projected Goras–Shyampur highway would have cost ₹209 crore and would have gone through areas that are important for the environment, like the park and the Kailadevi Sanctuary in Rajasthan. UK Sharma, the park field director, said that the building can’t go ahead without a suitable mitigation plan. This plan should include building raised roads and underpasses to make sure that animals can migrate safely.
The major goal is still to protect the cheetahs in their current habitats before expanding, because their lives and health are at danger.