Even as Goa government is delaying the submission of its proposal for the declaration of Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve, Union minister for environment and forests (MoEF) Jayanthi Natarajan has told Rajya Sabha that under section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 State governments are authorized to notify an area as a tiger reserve on recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

Natarajan has said that states have been advised to send proposals for declaring the following areas as Tiger Reserves including Bor (Maharashtra), Suhelwa (Uttar Pradesh), Nagzira-Navegaon (Maharashtra), Satyamangalam (Tamil Nadu), Guru Ghasidas National Park (Chhattisgarh), and Mhadei Sanctuary (Goa).

“Under section 38V of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 State governments are authorised to notify an area as a tiger reserve on recommendation of the National Tiger Conservation Authority,” she said.

MoEF in a letter to Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat dated June 28 had asked the state to prepare detailed proposal to declare the sanctuary as tiger reserve. “There is evidence that tigers in Goa are not merely transient animals but are a resident population as well, in the state,” the Union Minister has said in the letter.

Though the decision has been welcomed by the environmentalist in Goa, the state government is not so keen on the proposal.

With Chief Minister Digmaber Kamat stating that all stakeholders and locals would be taken into consideration before taking any steps, state Forest Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues has said that declaration of sanctuary as a tiger reserve would turn out to be ‘unpopular’ as locals are opposing it.

            In a press conference on Monday, the Minister hinted that the state government might not respond to MoEF letter stating that they are uncertain about the existence of tigers in the sanctuary.