New Delhi:
The environment ministry has decided not to accept the World Bank's aid for the tiger conservation programme. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) felt a World Bank project worth thousands of crores for relocation in forests should not be accepted as there are too many conditions.
The money was to be given for the relocation of Rs 1 lakh families.
It would take about Rs 10,000 crore to relocate those living inside protected forests and sancturies but the NTCA says that it wants to go it alone.
The reasoning given for refusing the loan is that it would lead to intereference by the World Bank, thus forcing the hiring of foreign consultants at higher costs and even leading to corruption.
"We have a cordination committee of 22 organisations including the police and paramilitary forces to tackle poaching," said Jayaram Ramesh, MOS Forest & Environment.
On Thursday the Centre decided to have a daily count of tiger deaths and accept not just the explanation given by the states but also non-governmental activists.
The year 2009 was a very bad year for tigers in India with close to 70 tiger deaths. According to statistics, in 2007 there were 1,411 tigers in the wild and in 2008 nearly 35 tigers died and it was 70 last year.