Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is all set to get its eighth tiger reserve by the end of the current month.Notification for upgrading Ratapani wildlife sanctuary, located around 60 km from Bhopal, to a tiger reserve is most likely to be issued by October 31, a senior state government officer told this newspaper on Friday. “All the formalities for notifying the new tiger reserve have been completed and the notification in this regard will be issued by October 31”, he added. A high level official meeting, held here on Wednesday, has prepared the draft notification, sources said. The meeting was held in the wake of chief minister Mohan Yadav issuing an instruction at the state wildlife board meeting, held here on September 27, to complete the process for notifying the Ratapani wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve on priority, sources added. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) accorded in-principle approval for declaring Ratapani wildlife sanctuary as a tiger reserve in August, 2008. But, the issue of notifying the tiger reserve has been hanging in balance for the last 16 years. The Mohan Yadav government has set in motion the process for issuing the notification for this. Sources said the proposed tiger reserve will cover an area of 1,270 sq km with the merger of Ratapani wildlife sanctuary and Singori sanctuary. While the core area of the proposed tiger reserve will be 763 sq km, the buffer zone will be developed in an area of 507 sq km. According to the 2022 census, there are 56 tigers in the Ratapani wildlife sanctuary. Ratapani wildlife sanctuary will be the first tiger reserve in the country which is located close to a state capital. Madhya Pradesh has earned the tag of ‘Tiger State’ for being home to the highest number of 825 tigers in any state in the country.
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