Supreme Court orders complete ban on tiger tourism

The Supreme Court has ordered complete ban on any form of tourism that’s organised in the name of tigers in the core areas of their sanctuaries and directed the state governments where the sanctuaries house the big cats to put in place a notification setting up buffer zones.

“Tigers are practically on the verge of extinction whatever the statistics may be,” the top court observed on Tuesday while hearing a PIL filed by environmentalist Ajay Dubey.

The PIL has sought directions to the Centre and states  to protect tigers from poachers and to ensure necessary care to them.

The ban will remain in force until the court finally disposes of the PIL.

Tiger breeding takes place in core areas which are meant to be kept free of any disturbance, including tourism. Buffer zones are the areas which lie in the periphery of core areas also known as critical tiger habitats. The buffer zones constitute the fringe areas of tiger reserves up to a distance of 10 kms.

A bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Ibrahim Kalifulla also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on the governments of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,  Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh for ignoring its repeated directives concerning buffer zones.

Karnataka is the lone government that has notified setting up buffer zones around its tiger sanctuaries.

Expressing concern over the authorities’ inertia in sincerely implementing the Wild Life Act and the Article 21 of the constitution that guarantees protection to environment, the court also warned that contempt action would be initiated against the offending states.

It also said exemplary cost up to Rs 50,000 would be imposed on each state and this amount would be recovered from the chief secretary concerned.

Union environment and forests minister Jayanthi Nataraj has welcomed the ban order and said she would personally write to all chief ministers asking them to strictly follow the top court’s mandate.

She also expressed concern over increased tourism activities in core areas in tiger reserves.

There have been reports about wildlife and cultural holidays that are called tiger tracking safaris in Kanha, Bandhavgarh or Pench National Parks and Asiatic Lion safaris and vacations in Sasan Gir National Park.

According to reports quoting the National Tiger Conservation Authority, about 48 tigers have died in the first six months of 2012 compared to 56 tiger deaths reported in the whole of 2010 and 52 in 2011.