Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Tuesday, 07 May 2024
According to the state forest department, the National Park was formed by including most of the forest areas of the then Venugopala Wildlife Park established under the government notification dated February 19, 1941 and the area was enlarged in 1985 extending over an area of 874.20 Sq.Km and named as Bandipur National Park.
Modi, dressed in a speckled safari clothing and hat, reportedly covered about 20-km distance in the open jeep, during the Safari at the Tiger Reserve, located partly in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district, and partly in H.D.Kote and Nanjangud taluks of Mysuru District.
"Spent the morning at the scenic Bandipur Tiger Reserve and got a glimpse of India’s wildlife, natural beauty and diversity", Modi tweeted.
The reserve was brought under 'Project Tiger' in 1973. Subsequently, some adjacent reserve forest areas were added to the reserve extending to 880.02 Sq. Km. The present area under the control of Bandipur Tiger Reserve is 912.04 Sq. Km.
Bandipur National Park is an important part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve that constitutes Karnataka’s Rajiv Gandhi National Park (Nagarahole) to its Northwest, Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary to its South, and Kerala’s Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary to its Southwest.
Once the private hunting grounds of the erstwhile Maharajas, and nestled in the foothills of the Nilgiris, Bandipur has had a long tryst with tigers. One of the 30 reserves identified across the country to save the Tiger and its habitat, it’s also one of the last refuges of the endangered Asiatic wild elephant, according to the state Tourism department.
At the inaugural session of the commemoration of 50 years of 'Project Tiger', Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the latest tiger census data: India's tiger population rose by 200 in the past four years to reach 3,167 in 2022.
According to the data, the tiger population was 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,167 in 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a 'Tiger Memento' by Union Forest Minister Bhupender Yadav at the session of commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger, at Mysuru University, in Mysuru.
Modi also launched the 'International Big Cat Alliance' (IBCA) and released a booklet ‘Amrit Kaal Ka Tiger Vision’, presenting the vision for tiger conservation in the next 25 years.
Narendra Modi also visited the Theppakkadu elephant camp at Mudumalai in the hilly Nilgiris district and interacted with Bellie and Bomman, the elephant caretakers who featured in an Oscar-winning documentary.
Upon his arrival, the PM was accorded a welcome by the pachyderms and he fed sugarcane to some of the elephants in the Theppakkadu camp at the tiger reserve here.
