Issue guidelines to State Govt to probe tiger deaths

Rajsamand MP, Diya Kumari, through her tweets and a letter sent to Union Minister of Environment and Forests, Prakash Javadekar, recently, raised a demand to issue necessary guidelines to the state government for investigating the causes of the recent tiger deaths so that such incidents do not recur.

The MP, through her tweets on Sunday, expressed extreme concern that the cub of the MT-2 tigress found dead in the Mukundara Sanctuary was not found even after 15 days. She described such incidents as extremely unfortunate and also requested the Central and State Government to take strict action against the culprits and sought strict instructions for the conservation of tigers in the State.

In her tweet shared on August 16, she said, “Wildlife in crisis. In Mukundara Sanctuary #Kota, it is very worrying to find out that the missing cub of tigress MT-2 found dead on August 3 remains untraceable even after 15 days due to negligence of forest officials.”

Diya Kumari tagged chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Prakash Javadekar in her tweets.

In her other tweet, she said, “These incidents are unfortunate. Both the centre and @RajGovOfficial are requested to take strict action against the culprits and give strict instructions for the protection of tigers in the state.”

It is to be noted that Diya Kumari is Rajsamand MP and also a member of the National Tiger Conservation Committee (NTCA – National Tiger Conservation Authority) in the Lok Sabha. She also met the newly appointed Member Secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority, SP Yadav on Friday and discussed issues of tiger conservation in NTCA and Rajasthan.

On August 5, the Rajsamand MP also wrote a letter to Union Minister of Environment and Forest, Prakash Javadekar, to take proper measures for conservation and promotion of tigers in Rajasthan.

In her recent letter, the MP has written that on 23 July, MT-3 tiger died in Mukundara Tiger Hill Reserve. The tiger was unable to move for several days, but forest department officials tried to treat it locally instead of calling experts, which led to the death of the tiger. She further wrote that similarly, on 3 August, the body of MT-2 tigress was found near Bevada Talai which has many injuries. There were maggots seen crawling on her body too. On August 4, the death of white tiger ‘Raja’ in the Nahargarh sanctuary area was reported. These incidents show that the condition of tigers in many sanctuary areas of the state including Ranthambore, Sariska, Sajjangarh, Nahargarh, etc. is in a dire state.

The MP has written in the letter that many tourists come to Rajasthan to see tigers in the State’s Tiger Sanctuary, which is also an important source of income for the State. She requested the Forest Minister to issue necessary guidelines to the State Government to investigate the causes of recent tiger deaths so that such incidents do not recur.