Gujarat opposes move to send Gir lions to MP

1-12-2007

Gujarat opposes move to send Gir lions to MP

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gujarat_opposes_move_to_send_Gir_lions_to_MP/articleshow/2586606.cms

NEW DELHI: The Centre's grand plan to relocate some of the Asiatic lions from their only home at Gir forest in Gujarat to the forests of Madhya Pradesh has run into serious opposition from the Narendra Modi government.

The plan, to save the lions from a disaster that could wipe them out in one go, involved relocating five of them from Gir to a 300 sqkm forest at Kunopalpur in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh.

As many as 30 villages falling within the identified area were relocated in 2003, but the plan mooted by the Wildlife Institute of India and accepted by the Centre is still hanging fire. A petition filed by Bio-diversity Conservation Trust of India through counsel Ritwick Datta alleged that the main reason for the stalling of the plan was the U-turn by the Narendra Modi government.

When amicus curiae Raj Panjwani brought this matter to the notice of a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V Raveendran, it sought the views of both state governments as well as the National Board for Wildlife within four weeks.

Appearing for the Gujarat government, senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi said the state's opposition to the plan was based on environmental grounds. He said even wildlife experts felt that lions could not be relocated to experimental surroundings already inhabited by tigers.

"The experts feel that tigers and lions can never co-exist in the wild," he said, rejecting the argument of the petitioner that the Gujarat government had changed its stand due to the ensuing assembly elections.

Madhya Pradesh's counsel Vibha Makhija said that she would ascertain the views of the state government and file a response even as the Bench said: "The plan appears to safeguard the Asiatic lions from perishing altogether as they live in groups within the confines of Gir forest."