Not just Mhadei, but all wildlife sanctuaries to be tiger reserves; Camera trap method has captured five tigers in Goa’s forests; proposal will be moved to National Tiger Conservation Authority PANJIM: The State Wildlife Board on Wednesday decided to declare all of the State’s protected areas – its wildlife sanctuaries – as tiger reserves. A proposal in this regard will be moved to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The Wildlife Board, headed by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, noted that the Forest Department had spotted five tigers moving in the protected areas, especially Mhadei wildlife sanctuary. The census was conducted using th ecamera trap technique in 2015. “The board cleared the proposal to declare all the protected areas in the State notified as wildlife sanctuaries as a tiger reserve. The proposal will be submitted to the NTCA for final notification,” Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar said after the board meeting. He added, “Since it is proved that tigers exist in the State’s wildlife sanctuaries, the board decided to submit the proposal.” Arlekar said that all the areas designated as wildlife sanctuaries – from Cotigao to Mhadei – would be declared as tiger reserve, and no additional area would be included. The State has six wildlife sanctuaries – Mhadei, Mahaveer, Netravali, Molem, Cotigao and Bondla. The Minister stated that NTCA will process the proposal and conduct its own study before formally declaring the areas as a tiger reserve. The decision by the board comes against the backdrop of demand by various green activists, who for over a decade had been asking that the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary be declared as a tiger reserve considering the presence of wild cats in the area. The State Wildlife Board’s decision has been hailed by environmentalists. When contacted, environmentalist and member of the National Wildlife Board (NWB) Rajendra Kerkar said, “This was a long pending demand. We had on several occasions proved the existence of the tiger in the Mhadei area. However, there was reluctance on the part of the government owing to several reasons, basically due to the iron ore mining industry,” he said. In 2013, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun had authenticated the presence of tigers in Goa. The State Forest Department census 2002, 2006 and in 2010 had shown the presence of the tiger. The 2010 census had stumbled upon the presence of five tigers in Goa’s wilds, and an increase in the number of leopards and wild dogs. Union Ministry for Environment and Forest (MoEF) since 2011 had been urging state government to submit a proposal for a tiger reserve.