The officials, neither in the Central ministry nor the state forest departments, though are guarded in their comments and term the order as "highly sensitive". A senior official in the Central ministry said, "Conservationists are extremely happy but private tour operators are very much disappointed."
Following the SC order, entry of tourists will be banned in the protected areas of all 39 tiger reserves in the country. The final order will come on August 22.
UP forest officials refused to comment till they see the order's copy. "So far we have only heard or read about the order, let's see it (order's copy) first," said a senior official.
The ban will, however, not have an immediate impact on Dudhwa reserve as it is currently closed for tourism. Besides, Dudhwa is not a significant tiger reserve in terms of revenue collection.
But, the ban's impact will be seen in the national parks like Bandipur, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Corbett, Ranthambore, Kaziranga and Kalakad-Mundanthurai, which earn huge revenue from tiger tourism. Though officials in the Madhya Pradesh forest department refused to comment on the repercussions of the order, they did not deny having a high tourist turnout during the season. The state earns close to Rs 15 crore by way of entry fee only. The entry fee, on an average, is not more than Rs 22 for the national parks. "Add to it the amount spent by a tourist to buy a tour package to the state's tiger reserves, the tourism earnings easily shoot up to Rs 150-200 crore," said a private tour operator. The state forest department not only uses the earning to manage the national parks but also shares it with the state. Read the full report here.
Source: Neha Shukla, TNN, Lucknow.
