Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Apr 28, 2011, 07.33am IST
NAGPUR: The tiger population going up in the state from 103 in 2006 to 169 in 2010 may be good news but the bad news is that there can be no policy to protect corridors required for the tigers to disperse for a viable population.

Talking to TOI on Wednesday, Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said protecting corridors was impossible as all development would come to a standstill. "We cannot come out with a policy on corridors," Ramesh stressed.

Today, tigers are facing the biggest threat from shrinking and fragmented corridors between protected areas (PAs) connecting each other. Against this backdrop, Ramesh's statement is disturbing. This is despite the fact that environment minister himself admitting that one-third of the tiger population resides outside protected areas (PAs).

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