Modi orders strong review petition to keep lions in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Stung by criticism and protests within Gujarat over losing the lion transfer case against Madhya Pradesh in the Supreme Court, chief minister Narendra Modi took control over the matter at a meeting of the State Board for Wildlife, which he chaired on Thursday. He called for a strong review petition to be filed before the apex court to prevent the transfer of the first lot of lions from Gir to Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

Many of the members also spoke about the gun cult which exists in this part of MP - an issue raised by TOI after the judgment - and insisted that this point be strongly put forth in the petition. They felt that NGOs should also intervene in the SC and support Gujarat's case.

The meeting saw an agitated Modi snapping at senior forest officials for messing up the case. He glared at one member who quoted the TOI report, which stated that the best lawyers were not hired for the job. He ordered that all other matters on the agenda be dropped and only the lion issue be discussed.

Though he said he did not want the lion issue to be seen as a Gujarat versus MP case, Modi appeared clearly upset over the neighbouring state's chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan celebrating the victory in two quick tweets on April 8 - the day of the judgment.

Modi raised objection to the fact that the order had ignored the views of the board. Also, he found the idea of Gujarat sending lions regularly to MP objectionable.

Eminent environmentalist Lavkumar Khachar said the poaching problem in MP should be raised strongly. “The people of MP are expert poachers. The presence of large number of guns is a worrying factor. Also, one can kill lions by just spraying insecticides on the kill,” he said.