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Finance Minister P Chidambaram's budget may have evoked mixed reactions across the country but it has brought a smile on the faces of officials in the Forest Department.
The Department is thankful for the budget allocation of Rs 50 crore for the National Tiger Conservation Programme.
The Forest Department in Karnataka, which is all smiles after the state was ranked second in tiger conservation, says the additional allocation of funds will help them go about their job better.
The Forest Department expects a large chunk of the fund to be allotted to Karnataka to set up a Tiger Protection Force.
In the recent tiger census, Karnataka was second with an average count of 290 tigers as compared to Madhya Pradesh. The census indicated that India has in all 1411 tigers left. The maximum count in Karnataka is 330 tigers while the minimum is 241.
Chief Conservator of Forests Avani Kumar, who welcomed the allocation, said Karnataka expected nearly Rs 10 crore for the project in the state. Karnataka has a forest cover of up to 40,236 sq km and tigers occupy an area of 18,715 sq km.
There are three tiger-constituted areas in Karnataka. The Nagarhole-Mudumalai and Waynad patches have 190 tigers while the Kudremukh-Bhadra patch houses 58 tigers. The third patch, the Sharavathi Valley-Dandeli-Khanapur has 33 tigers, as per records available with the forest department.
Besides this, the police department is also contemplating inducting ex-army men into the Tiger Protection Force. The ex-army men would be part of the team, which would comprise local tribals, who would be given top priority during this programme.