TFP Bureau, Raipur, November 18, 2024: Chhattisgarh has officially become home to the 56th tiger reserve in India with the notification of the Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve. This move aims to bolster tiger conservation efforts in the region, encompassing a vast 2,829.38 square kilometers across the districts of Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur, Korea, Surajpur, and Balrampur.
The announcement was made by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupendra Yadav, who expressed that India continues to set new milestones in tiger conservation with this new addition. The Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve is now the third largest in the country, after Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve in Andhra Pradesh and Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Deo Sai expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Union Forest Minister Shri Bhupendra Yadav for their support in establishing this vital reserve. “This tiger reserve will play a key role in promoting tiger conservation while supporting biodiversity,” said Shri Sai.
Spanning 2,829.38 square kilometers, the reserve includes 2,049.2 square kilometers of core tiger habitat, which incorporates the Guru Ghasidas National Park and the Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary. The reserve also boasts a buffer area of 780.15 square kilometers.
The newly established reserve is part of a larger conservation landscape that connects with other tiger reserves across state boundaries. It is contiguous to Madhya Pradesh’s Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve, forming a landscape complex of around 4,500 square kilometers. This connectivity also extends to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh to the west and Palamu Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand to the east.
The reserve is rich in biodiversity, with over 750 species of fauna recorded by the Zoological Survey of India, including 230 species of birds and 55 species of mammals, many of which are threatened species. The varied terrain of dense forests, rivers, and waterfalls provides an ideal habitat for tigers and other wildlife.
With this addition, Chhattisgarh now has four tiger reserves, reinforcing the state’s commitment to the conservation of tigers under the Project Tiger initiative, supported by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
