SC committee meets stakeholders over Goa Tiger Reserve issue

Panaji, Oct 16 (PTI) The Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court on Thursday met the stakeholders in Goa against the backdrop of the state government's Special Leave Petition challenging a High Court order to notify a tiger reserve.

Committee members Chandra Prakash Goyal and Sunil Limaye met the stakeholders including representatives of Goa Foundation, an NGO which had filed the original petition before the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court.

Representatives of assembly constituencies of Valpoi, Poriem, Canacona and Sanguem also met the CEC members who are on a two-day visit to the coastal state.

Talking to reporters, Goa Foundation director Claud Alvares said the committee gave them a hearing. "They heard us....We don't know whether they are convinced or not, because more people including politicians are going to meet them," Alvares said.

The Goa government has been opposing the proposed tiger reserve. But the wildlife sanctuaries management plan prepared by the state government has notified the core zone of the sanctuaries which covers the same area as the tiger reserve, Alvares pointed out.

On July 24, 2023, the Bombay High Court directed the Goa government to declare the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve under section 38V (1) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 , within three months.

The state challenged the order in the apex court. Its counsel argued that as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines, an area of 800-1,000 square km would have to be declared as an `inviolate space' for a tiger reserve.

The protected areas of Bhagwan Mahaveer National Park (Mollem), Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary (which would fall under the proposed reserve) add up to 745 sq km.

Hence, to declare an area larger than the already protected area as an inviolate space would be an anomaly, the government argued.

The entire area of Goa measures only 3,700 square km, 20 per cent of which is already covered by protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, it said.

More than one lakh people will have to be shifted to make way for a small population of four or five tigers, the state government contended in the Supreme Court.

Further, the NTCA had not established that these were `resident tigers', the government said.

The state's lawyer admitted that the area (where the reserve is proposed) is used by tigers as a corridor to move between Maharashtra and Karnataka, but claimed that no cubs were seen with these felines, hence they could not be considered "resident tigers".

The government also quoted the 2023 decision of the State Board of Wildlife that the tiger reserve would be too small to be feasible.

Goa Foundation, which is a respondent before the SC, told the apex court that the proposal would result in a large tiger reserve which will include areas in Karnataka and Maharashtra too, extending up to the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.

The state government's claim of the possible displacement of one lakh persons was exaggerated, the NGO argued, adding that major human settlements were scrupulously excluded from the area of the proposed reserve. PTI RPS GK KRK