Project Tiger completes 50 successful years

Chamarajanagara: The country is celebrating 50 years of Project Tiger Reserve, implemented for the conservation of tigers. On April 1, 1973, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the Tiger Project to increase the declining tiger population and promote their conservation in India. Since then, this project has succeeded in increasing the number of tigers and conserve tigers. Project Tiger is one of the largest species conservation initiatives in the world and has been praised worldwide for successfully conserving tigers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Bandipur Tiger Reserve on April 9 to mark celebration of 50 years.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director Ramesh Kumar said that when Project Tiger started, there were 12 tigers in Bandipur. Now the number rose to more than 126. According to the'Tiger Co Predator and Prey Report in India' published by the National Tiger Conservation authority in 2018, the number of tigers roaming around the park is 173 but the number of tigers inside the reserve is 126, Ramesh said.

The 2022 tiger census report, a report on the steps taken by the government for tiger conservation, will be presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9 at a program to commemorate 50 years of Project Tiger in Mysuru. But before the passing of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the rulers who ruled Mysuru in the past had realized the needs of flora and fauna conservation. And the Mysore Game and Fish Preservation Act was passed in 1901.Initially, an area of 35 square miles in the Chamarajanagara forest of Mysuru district was declared a game sanctuary in 1931 and protected for 10 years. In 1941, the Venugopal Wildlife Park was expanded to 800 square km after the authorities realized that this was too small an area to form an ecological unit, of which 82 square miles within the park was called the Bandipur Sanctuary.

This boundary extends the natural southern boundary from the Moyar River towards the Nilgiris. and extends to Gundlupet including the 1,450 meter high HimavadGopalaswamy Hill to the north. The entire park is named after Venugopala, the deity of the hilltop

temple.