Bundi's Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary, adjacent to Ranthambore National Park, has now been given the status of the state's fourth Tiger Reserve by the state government. Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary will now be called Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve. Earlier Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukandra Hills Tiger Reserves are the reserves for tigers in Rajasthan.

After getting permission from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, on Monday 16 May 2022, on behalf of the state government, the Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment has signed and stamped it. Its gazette notification has been issued. In such a situation, now there are four tiger reserves in the Rajasthan. Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary has become the 52nd tiger reserve of the country and the fourth tiger reserve of the state.

Due to the increase in the population of tigers and the reduction of space in Ranthambore, now the mutual conflict of tigers will be curbed and the tigers will also get better habitat. With Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary being a tiger reserve, there will be a seamless movement of tigers from Ranthambore to Mukundra.

Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve has become the fourth tiger reserve of the state. With this, it has become the second largest tiger reserve of the state in terms of area. Its approval was issued by NTCA in July 2021. After this, its proposals were made and sent to the state government. This proposal was sent in January. Since then the forest department, wildlife lovers and Bundi residents were waiting for its notification, which ended on Monday. 

Area of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve

The total area of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve will be 1501.89 square kilometer. In this, core area first will be 225.62 and core area second will be 256.28. With this, the buffer area will be of 1019.98 square kilometer.

National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary also included

The National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary emerging from Hadoti has also been included in the Tiger Reserve. It is included as core. This will also stop illegal mining and fishing taking place here. This will improve the condition of aquatic organisms in Chambal and their numbers will increase.

Areas of Bundi and Bhilwara included

Along with Bundi district, some forest areas of Bhilwara district have also been included in Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve. This includes Ramgarh Vishdhari, Hindoli, Dabi, Nainwan, Keshavarayapatan, Chambal Gharial sanctuary areas of Bundi district.

The areas of Jalindri, Banka and Bhopatpura of Bhilwara have been included in this Tiger Reserve. A total of 9548 hectares of forest area of Bhilwara has been included in this.

Division and Range will be formed

Till now, after the formation of Tiger Reserve of Ramgarh, which is working as a sanctuary, facilities and resources will also increase here. A division will be made for the Tiger Reserve in Bundi, along with many new ranges will also be made. So that the protection of tigers and wildlife can be improved.

Tiger conservation plan will be made

After the notification is issued, the department will prepare a plan for tiger conservation, which will be sent to the National Tiger Conservation Authority. After its approval, the work will be done. Due to the budget, Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary, which is suffering from weak economic condition here, will also get support.

History of Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary

Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary was notified in the year 1982. Its total area was 302 square kilometers. Even at that time there used to be a good number of tigers here. Till the year 1990, it was considered the home of tigers.

After this, after leaving Ranthambore in the year 2004, the tiger 'Broken Tail' reached the Dara Sanctuary via Ramgarh, where he died after being hit by Rajdhani Express train. After this, Tiger T 62 in the year 2013 and Tiger T 91 in the year 2016 left Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and reached Ramgarh. After this, in the year 2021, Tiger T 115 reached Ramgarh, which is currently residing in Ramgarh itself.

Bundi's dream came true

There is a wave of happiness among the residents of Bundi district and there is an atmosphere of happiness around the release of notification of Tiger Reserve of Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary in Bundi district by the state government. Now declaring it as protected will also go a long way in increasing the population of tigers.

Along with the conservation of biodiversity, the population of the forest fauna living in the area will be protected and at the local level the area will be able to write a new chapter of ecology, tourism and development. Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary will now be recognized as the habitat of tigers.

The specialty of Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve is its ecosystem and tiger friendly environment. Apart from this, this protected area is also home to wild animals like wolf, leopard, striped hyena, bear, golden jackal, chinkara, nilgai and fox. This sanctuary will prove to be a boon not only for the nature lovers, but also for the tourists coming from abroad.

Tourism will be boosted

Declaring Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary as Tiger Reserve will give impetus to the tourism development of the district. Along with this, many new avenues of research and education will also open.

Apart from this, historical and cultural sites like Bhimlat, Ramgarh Mahal will promote eco-tourism and will also help in earning livelihood for the local communities. This will increase the eco-tourism of the district. Hotel business and employment opportunities will increase.

Enclosure ready, waiting for tigress

The enclosure being prepared to bring tigress along with herbivores in Ramgarh Vishdhari has also been ready. After one or two rains, 150 cheetals will be brought here from the Ghana sanctuary. After this the tigress will be shifted here from Ranthambore. However it will take some time. It is the effort of the department that this work can be done if the weather becomes a little pleasant after the rain.

Shifting of tigress may happen in July

After getting the status of Tiger Reserve to Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary, now the possibility of tigress shifting to Ramgarh has increased. In the past also, permission has been issued by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to shift the tigress from Ranthambore National Park to Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary.

Since then, some tigresses were also marked for shifting by the Forest Department. However, due to the high temperature in the current summer season, the possibility of shifting is less. According to experts, the tigress is likely to shift during the monsoon in the month of July.

Wildlife experts said that when a tiger or a tigress is tranquilized, its body temperature rises significantly. In such a situation, due to the scorching heat and the temperature being very high, it can be dangerous to tranquilize the tigress. In such a situation, at present, the Forest Department is expected to wait till the monsoon for the shifting of the tigress. 

Ranthambore's share in every tiger of Rajasthan

Ranthambore has become synonymous with tiger in Rajasthan. When the existence of the Royal Bengal Tiger was reduced to Pakistan through the western countries, at that time the Ranthambore hills, the confluence of the Aravalli and Vindhyachal mountain ranges in Rajasthan, gave protection to the tigers.

In the year 1901, there were 6 thousand tigers in Rajasthan, out of which 5 thousand were found in these two mountain ranges. But after that the number of tigers continued to decrease.

In the year 2006, there were only 18 tigers left in the whole of Rajasthan, that too only in Ranthambore. In just 15 years, this number has once again increased from 18 to beyond 100. At present, 104 tigers are roaming in the state.

Ranthambore itself populated the other forests of the state

Out of the total tigers in the state, about 75 tigers are in Rathambore National Park. When tigers had become extinct everywhere in the state, tigers were sent from Ranthambore to settle in other sanctuaries. 11 tigers of Ranthambore were shifted to Sariska and Mukundra forest area. Today there is not a single tiger in the state which does not have the tiger of Ranthambore. Tigers of Ranthambore are also present in Dholpur and Karauli districts.

Apart from this, the tigers of this place knock on crossing the Chambal River, through Sheopur till Datia and on the other side from Agra onwards. Now the demand of tigers of Ranthambore is also being done from Rajsamand and Kumbhalgarh forest area. If this happens, after Sariska, Ramgarh Vishdhari, Mukundra, the hills of Kumbhalgarh and Rajsamand will also be populated by the tigers of Ranthambore.

33 tigers increased in 3 years

The efforts being made in the direction of tiger conservation in Rajasthan can be gauged from the fact that in the last three years the number of tigers in the state has increased by 33. Ranthambore has the largest number of tigers. At the same time, in the case of tigers, Sariska is at number two in the state.

The challenge of increasing the variance area

The average area of each tiger share that roams Ranthambore is about 8 to 10 sq km. Earlier this range was 30 km. The area of Ranthambore Sanctuary and its adjoining forest area is more than 1700 sq km, but only 600 sq km has been made by tigers in it.

Where and how many tigers are there in Rajasthan?

There are 72 tigers and tigresses in Ranthambore I

There are 4 tigers and tigresses in Karauli

There are 4 tigers and tigresses in Dholpur

There are 22 tigers and tigresses in Sariska

Ramgarh has 1 tiger

Mukundra has 1 tigress