29 August 2019



Officials of the Bihar government have identified forests in Kaimur as a possible site for the state’s second tiger reserve after the Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR).

“We are planning to develop Biihar’s second tiger reserve in Kaimur. We have already started work for it which will take some time,” Santosh Tiwari, director of the ecology department, said.

Tiwari, who had visited the Kaimur forests earlier this month, added that the work to develop the Kaimur forests into a tiger reserve had been assigned to divisional forest officer (DFO) Vikas Ahlawat. “We will help him to expedite the work and will review it every three months,” he said.

Tiwari told Down To Earth that it was a big challenge for his team to develop and ensure Kaimur to officially declare a new tiger reserve in the state.

“We have to first work on habitat improvement. From there, we have to move to safety and security for tigers in Kaimur. Only after that will we formally send a proposal to the Centre to approve and declare it as a new tiger reserve. It is a long process that is bound to take some time,” he said.

A senior forest officer said the need for a second reserve arose as the VTR was nearing saturation point. Bihar’s sole tiger reserve currently has the capacity to manage nearly 50 tigers. According to the latest census, there are more than 40 tigers including 31 adult tigers and 12 cubs.

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