After a long wait of over 16 years, Madhya Pradesh’s Ratapani Sanctuary has finally been given higher protection by being declared a tiger reserve. While the National Tiger Conservation Authority gave an in-principle approval in 2008, the Madhya Pradesh government issued the notification for the sanctuary to become a tiger reserve only on December 2. The delay, some say, is the lack of political will and the time taken to implement restrictions and communicate them to the residents.
With the notification, Ratapani became the eighth tiger reserve of the state and 57th of India. Spread over an area of 1,271 square kilometres, which includes the core area of 763 sq km and buffer area of 507 sq km, more than half of its forest is covered by teak (Tectona grandis). The dry deciduous and moist deciduous forest is the home to species such as tiger, leopard, wild dog, sloth bear, hyena, spotted deer and sambar among others.
The new status accorded to the sanctuary is aimed at boosting the tiger conservation programme and also tiger tourism in the state known for the presence of 785 big cats, the highest number of the feline in any state of India. Ratapani’s close proximity to the state capital of Bhopal and Bhimbetka, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will also help in bringing it into the tourism circuit of Madhya Pradesh.
Ratapani, however, continues to face issues related to illegal poaching, tree felling and train accidents.
Railway track divides reserve
One of the major issues in Ratapani arises from the railway track that passes through it. This track is part of the busy Delhi-Mumbai railway route and has proven fatal for at least seven tigers, 17 leopards and one sloth bear since 2015, according to reports in local media. These deaths took place because of speeding trains which did not honour the speed limit prescribed for the protected area. Three tiger cubs were found dead on the same track in July.
A Comptroller and Auditor General report in 2022 highlighted critical safety concerns along railway tracks. “Despite a 40 km/hour speed restriction imposed by the National Wildlife Board, the forest department revoked it after the railways request,” the report said.
“You are already one level up when Ratapani becomes a tiger reserve and is included in the Project Tiger. We will now get more funds for the development of the park, we are also expecting an increase in tourism activities and the park gets its proceedings as well which will further help develop the reserve. There will be a focused tiger conservation plan for the park for better management,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (wildlife), Shubhranjan Sen told Mongabay India.
“The railways got the permission to expand the lines with certain conditions,” he noted, adding, “We will ensure that whatever conditions they agreed upon should be implemented. The mitigation structures which should have been in place are yet to be done. Speed limit is a new thing, that was there but will be difficult to ensure because we won’t have our staff (on the track). But if they introduce collision detection system, it also will serve the purpose.”
Poaching, encroachment
Like many other tiger reserves in India, Ratapani also faces anthropogenic pressures such as illegal tree felling, cattle grazing, poaching and encroachment. These are going to be major concerns for the management. The reserve has two sanctuaries with 19 villages inside them (10 in Ratapani sanctuary and nine in Singhori sanctuary), and around 100 villages around it. The people living in the villages are dependent on the forest for their daily needs, especially the biomass.
Talking to Mongabay India, Divisional Forest Officer, Ratapani, Hemant Raikwar, said, “We will be able to do better management with the cooperation of the people living inside the reserve and those living outside.” Raikwar said that a new protection plan will soon be implemented. “We will have more staff for monitoring and patrolling to protect the reserve,” he added.
The shrinking prey base is also turning out to be a growing worry as the tiger population is on the rise. According to sources, the density of deer in Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves is 55 and 40 per sq km respectively, however, the herbivore density in Ratapani has come down to just two in 2024 from nine in 2018.
“Famous meadows of tiger reserves like Kanha have developed over a period of time after the villages were relocated from the jungle. There are 10 villages right inside Ratapani and we will try to relocate them to create grasslands,” an officer said on the condition of anonymity.
Forest department sources, on the condition of anonymity, told Mongabay India that poaching is also a concern for the new tiger reserve. “Though it (poaching) is limited to herbivores, it has been happening for a long time, since the days when Bhopal was ruled by Nawabs,” the source said.
Srinivas Murthy, former field director Panna tiger reserve who implemented a successful tiger reintroduction plan in the reserve in 2009, told Mongabay India, “The new status will get a better protection cover and proper management for the cat. This will help create a tiger corridor from Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve in Sidhi district bordering Uttar Pradesh to Pench Tiger Reserve in Chhindwara bordering Maharashtra.”
“The moment they are going to address the real issues (villages inside the reserve), it will disturb some people. There are many villages around the park including some inside the park. The village relocation will be one of the biggest issues,” he added.
This article was first published on Mongabay.
