The Bombay Excessive Courtroom has taken a dim view of an incident the place safari automobiles carrying vacationers obstructed the motion of a tigress and her cubs in Maharashtra’s Umred-Pauni-Karhandla Sanctuary on New 12 months’s eve.
Justices Nitin Sambre and Vrushali Joshi of the HC’s Nagpur bench on Monday (January 6, 2025) issued discover to the state’s principal chief conservator of forests and sought an in depth affidavit on motion taken and preventive measures.
The bench will hear the plea on Wednesday (January 8, 2025) .
Within the viral movies of the December 31, 2024 incident, safari automobiles are seen crowding across the tigress, recognized as F-2, and her 5 cubs from each side of a highway within the buffer zone of the sanctuary right here to assist vacationers seize their photographs and movies.
The HC took suo motu (by itself) cognisance of the movies and information experiences on the incident. The state forest division on Monday suspended 4 drivers and guides concerned within the incident for 3 months.
A nice of ₹25,000 has additionally been imposed on the gypsy SUV drivers, whereas nature guides have been fined ₹1,000 every. Moreover, instances have been registered towards them underneath related sections of the Wildlife Safety Act, 1972.
Pench Tiger Reserve (Nagpur) deputy director Prabhu Nath Shukla in a launch stated the vacationers violated the sanctuary’s rule by blocking the trail of the tigress F2 and her 5 cubs with a number of safari automobiles at Gothangaon in Kuhi wildlife vary.
Vacationers concerned on this incident have been completely banned from future visits to the sanctuary and a committee, headed by the deputy director, Bor Tiger Reserve, has been constituted to suggest measures to forestall such incidents sooner or later.
Shukla acknowledged that discipline officers and workers have been instructed to extend common patrolling alongside safari routes to forestall such incidents. Moreover, particular conferences and workshops are being organised for nature guides and gypsy drivers to lift consciousness and sensitivity towards ecotourism.
Printed – January 07, 2025 12:41 pm IST
