A fully-grown tiger was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Kanha National Park on Thursday sending shockwaves among conservationists and forest department officials. The reserve was thrown open for tourists on Tuesday. 

Earlier in the evening, a villager had nearly fallen prey to a big cat on the prowl in the same reserve near Khatiagate. 25-year-old Ghanshyam Yadav survived the grizzly attack. 

Yadav, who hails from village Mocha village, had taken buffalos to a forest pond for grazing. While he was busy tending his cattle, a tiger lurking in the area attacked him. Yadavwho sustained fatal injuries and was rushed to district hospital in Mandlafor
for further treatment. 

A tiger, could have been poisoned in what is suspected to be an act of revenge, it's learnt. Officials claim, the postmortem report and visceral analysis will solve the mystery.

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Karuppasamy said STL is on the edge of extinction from the illegal trade of its meat, skin and oil - for believed medicinal value - and habitat destruction though land development.

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Saranki, the poacher arrested from Umariya in Madhya Pradesh, has revealed during his three-day forest custody that gang leader Ajit, whose MCR was extended till October 24 on Thursday, was involved in the killing of another tiger, near Mansar, in November
last year.

 According to forest department sources, Saranki showed the spot on Wednesday, which is 7 km away from Mansar and in Paoni range. Saranki told officials that he along with Ajit, Khatia, Sheru and Kaka executed the plan to kill a tiger, while 40-50 other
members stayed at a temporary camp near Amdi railway station. The poachers commuted by a shared auto rickshaw to reach the spot.

Simultaneously, the forest officials also seized a steel trap which was used in the killing of a tiger in Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary in May this year. Saranki led the investigators to the farm of Shriram Bele, 10 km away from the sanctuary towards
Torna village, where the steel trap was hidden. It was seized with the help of metal detectors.

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Aware that changing a religious custom that has been practiced for centuries is a sensitive matter, Datta wants religious leaders to be part of the committee that decided the new process along with environment experts. "We did find an alternative to goat
sacrifice during Kali puja. Now, vegetables are 'sacrificed'," he pointed out.

It was Datta's PIL that led to a court order in 2001 for immersed idols to be removed from the river within 24 hours. But it took nearly a decade to implement the order as Kolkata Port Trust and Kolkata Municipal Corporation initially refused to shoulder
the responsibility.

. In 2010, the two agencies finally joined hands - KoPT removed the structures from the water and KMC carried them away from the riverbanks.

"It is time to take a step forward and have a symbolic immersion instead of actually submerging the idols in water. We want to arrive at a well-accepted, practical and pragmatic solution," Datta said.

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In a Order issued on October 15, the ministry said the expert committee would make a “detailed study as to whether the existing and under construction hydroelectric power projects in the river basins of Alkananda, Bhagirathi and their tributaries have
contributed to environmental degradation and, if so, to what extent and also whether they have contributed to the tragedy that occurred in Uttarakhand in June, 2013.”

The committee will also examine the impact of the proposed 24 hydel projects on the bio-diversity of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins.

The committee will be jointly headed by Prof Ravi Chopra, member of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), and environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt, founding member of the Chipko Movement.

The other members of the panel include Prof. A N Purohit, Hemant Dhyani, Dr B P Das; G L Bansal, Dr Navin Juyal, Dr Sathyakumar and Dr Shekhar Pathak. The panel also includes experts from central government bodies and institutes like the Central Water
Commission, National Institute of Rock Mechanics, National Disaster Management Authority, Indian Council for Forest Research Institute, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Physical Research Laboratory and the Central Public Works Department.

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Covering 556.45 square kilometres area in the South 24-Parganas forest division, the new sanctuary will have Dhulibhashani I to its north, Bay of Bengal to its south and rivers Matla and Thakuran to its east and west respectively.

While talking to TOI, additional principal chief conservator of forests Pradeep Vyas said: "The notification (No. 1828-FOR/11M-86/2012(PT.I) dated 11/9/2013) was issued last month. The construction work for a protection camp at Chulkathi is underway and
it will be completed soon."

According to him, tourism will also be allowed in the area. Several tourists already visit the nearby Lothian sanctuary every year. "A recent camera-trap exercise has found a presence of at least 22 tigers in the forests under the new sanctuary. The status
of a sanctuary will ensure more protection measures in the forests around the West Sunderbans Wildlife Sanctuary," he added.

Sources said the proposal for creation of the new sanctuary was cleared in a meeting of state wildlife advisory board in February, last year.

Experts believe that the move will restrict illegal entry into the forests also. A study on tiger presence in the forests here, done by the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve and WWF-India recently, had sounded an alarm on the human pressure on the forests.
The study, which found presence of a minimum 22 tigers in the forests, had also found a human density of more than 550 persons per square kilometre in the 22 villages around the newly-declared sanctuary.

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