Tiger tourism ban to continue for now

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in the tiger tourism case till 29 August, effectively extending the temporary ban on tourism in the so-called core areas of tiger reserves.

The apex court on 24 July had banned any form of tourism in the core areas to aid conservation efforts. Core areas are critical habitats for tigers and are identified on the basis of good availability of water, prey and shelter for the tiger.

A bench of justices A.K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar criticized the government for the decreasing number of tigers in the country. “The number of tigers in the country has come down from 13,000 to 1,200,” the bench told counsel Waseem Ahmed Kadiri, who represents the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), part of the environment ministry.

The government filed an affidavit on Wednesday in the court, stating that it wants to review eco-tourism guidelines, prepared by a committee appointed by NTCA, and on the basis of which the ban on tourism has come about. The bench said it found it strange that the government had problems with recommendations made by NTCA, after deliberations.

“The respondents may be permitted to further review the guidelines and conduct more consultations with all stakeholders including state governments and representatives of local indigenous communities, besides reviewing the process adopted by states in notifying the buffer areas of tiger reserves,” the government affidavit said.

The government also contended that the states have expressed concern about the impact of the ban on people, including tribals living in reserves who depend on tourism for their livelihood.

An NTCA official, who asked not to be identified, said it wanted to review the guidelines because it had received representations from stakeholders and state governments. “A lot of them have said that there are faults in notification of buffer areas and the due process under the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Rights Act is not being followed. The states who have written to us are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Uttarakhand,” he said.

The Supreme Court in its 24 July hearing had directed state governments to notify core and buffer areas for tiger reserves.

While the core area is inviolate for the tiger, the buffer is a protected area on all sides of the reserve that ensures no industrial or other project comes up in the vicinity of the reserve, and enables local people to coexist with animals, while keeping their livelihood and cultural rights intact.

The apex court had fined Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand 10,000 for not notifying buffer areas in tiger reserves in their respective states.

The court’s ruling came on the basis of a special leave petition filed by right to information activist Ajay Dubey to stop “inviolate activities” including tourism in core areas of tiger reserves in the Supreme Court in July 2011. He approached the apex court after his appeal to ban tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves was rejected by the Madhya Pradesh high court in January 2011.

Dubey on Wednesday said his motive was to make sure that “the tourism being carried out in tiger reserves is responsible”.

PTI contributed to this story.