Rajasthan Set To Get Its Fourth Tiger Reserve In Bundi District As Centre Green-Lights The Project

Already home to three tiger reserves, Rajasthan is set to get its fourth tiger reserve in Bundi district, reports Hindustan Times.

This comes as the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has green-lighted the conversion of the Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary into a tiger reserve.

The existing three tiger reserves in the state are the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Sawai Madhopur, Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, and Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve in Kota.

Announcing the development over Twitter, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar shared that the new reserve will link Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in the Northeast and Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve on the southern side.

It should be noted that as per a 2018 tiger census, the three existing tiger reserves are presently home to 102 tigers. Of these, 77 tigers are at the Ranthambore reserve alone, leading to overcrowding.

This is why last year Rajasthan government had announced plans to develop Bundi sanctuary as a reserve to provide a second habitat to the tigers in the Ranthambore reserve. Upgrading the sanctuary to a reserve will likely resolve the space crunch at Ranthambore reserve.