West Bengal government contests method adopted for counting tigers

NEW DELHI: Days after some experts questioned the methodology adopted for conducting the 2014-15 National Tiger Survey, a state government has raised question marks about the veracity of the census count. The West Bengal government has written to the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests pointing to the discrepancy in the tiger count in Buxa tiger reserve.

“It is quite strange actually. While last year the data by the Centre itself indicated the presence of some 13 tigers in Buxa tiger reserve, the survey this year says (there are) only three tigers or so in the same reserve. So the new figures are not that convincing. We have written to the environment ministry seeking a review of the same,” Chandan Sinha, Principal Secretary, West Bengal Directorate of Forests told ET over phone.

Sinha pointed out that the Buxa tiger reserve being adjacent to Bhutan, there was a strong possibility of migration of tigers across the huge forest area spread across borders.

Buxa Tiger Reserve is in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal and runs along the international border with Bhutan. The state government had also released a report some two years back indicating that Buxa Tiger Reserve boasted of at least twenty tigers.