Ranthambore National ParkMismanagement, tourism pressures and conflicts

-- Kushal Pal Singh Yadav

•Declared wildlife sanctuary in 1957•Became part of Project Tiger in 1975•Declared national park in 1981•Covers an area of nearly 400 sq. km. and is set between the Aravalli and Vindhya mountain ranges •In all likelihood the pictures of tigers you have seen in travel magazines and brochures have been shot in this park

Too close for comfort

Only for the tiger

Mismanaged tourism• In 2004-05, the department says that

about 100,000 people visited and its receipts at the gate were Rs 1.67 crore (Approx. $ 400,000).

• Twice a day entry--Morning and evening• Maximum of 20, 20-seater canters and 15

four-seater gypsies allowed inside the park

• Roster system for managing routes--7 routes reverse and forward

Mismanaged tourism• Corruption in route management system--

Leads to crowding of vehicles on certain specific routes where tiger sightings most likely

• Most vehicles go on routes 6 and 7 because maximum tiger sightings take place there.

• Guides tell each other where the tiger was spotted and then almost all of them try to go on those routes.

Crowded

Taking its toll• Letter from the head of forest department at

Ranthambore to his superiors• “I have written a number of letters to state tourism

department regarding a very high disproportionate way of allotting vehicles to different routes in Ranthambore National Park by assistant director tourism, Sawai Madhopur. For instance on 24th and 25th March maximum number of vehicles were sent in route numbers 6 and 7. This has resulted in great disturbance to a tigress and her two small cubs in Jhalra area… I would not hesitate to say that our tigers are going out not only from the core area but also from the forest areas to outside less protected areas.”

Taking its toll• “Due to this (disproportionate route allotment)

there is a great disturbance to the tigress and her cubs in Berda area of the park. This type of high level of disturbance is likely to interfere with the ‘raising of cubs and consequently their recruitment to adulthood’, which will ultimately lead to ‘rearing depression’, that is poor cub survival.”

• In 2003, a tiger from the reserve was found dead on a railway track near Kota, 200 km away.

• In another instance, a tiger strayed into Mai Kalan village in January 2005 and killed a human.

Commercialisation versus conservation: The business of

wildlife tourism

The business of wildlife tourism

• Hotel industry: Local people do not gain much

• Leads to antagonism

The business of wildlife tourism• Till the mid-1990s, there were just over 10

hotels in and around the forests of the reserve and in the town of Sawai Madhopur some 12 kilometres (km) from the gate of the national park.

• Now there are 33, of which 26 are prominent. • Six new hotels are under construction. • Average room rents vary between Rs 400 a

night to a staggering Rs 30,000 for a night of ultra-deluxe luxury in the midst of the wild tigers.

• Most hotels are permanent structures to house their guests but some tented accommodation is also available.

The business of wildlife tourism• It is estimated that while the big-buck places

are outsider-owned, smaller (relatively cheaper) hotels are owned by local people.

• Along the Ranthambore road, land prices have gone up from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh per hectare (ha) 10 years back to anywhere from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh per ha today, depending on the proximity to the park entrance.

• The annual turnover from the 21 top hotels is Rs 21.81 crore. If this is correct, then the park (and tigers) are poor gainers from the business of pleasure and education.

Encroachment• According to 2003 records of the

field director of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, 15 hotels are located within one km of the forest boundary. Of these, 12 are located within 500 metres, three at a distance of zero metre from the forest boundary and one within the forest area

A few feet away

Vested interests• On December 26, 2002, the then secretary

(forests) to the government of Rajasthan issued directions that “all construction activities in this zone (within 500 metres of the park boundary) will be banned. There will be a total freeze in extension of existing structures”. “Existing land use pattern will not be changed,”

• But so powerful were the interests the government was taking on that in May 2003 — less than six months later —directive relaxed.

Vested interests• The same official issued another order saying

that the “ban” was relaxed because “immediate application of this order had inadvertently hit adversely some hotel projects”. Now the state government maintained that “all the ongoing hotel projects which have been affected by the order dated 26th December, 2002, may be granted a special relaxation for taking up construction within 500 metres of the Ranthambore National Park”.

Vested interests

Vested interests

• A number of conservationists, the people who supposedly insist that the villagers should be removed from and kept out of the reserve, own hotels and properties in prime land just next to the park.

Bang inside the forest

Law of the jungle• Currently, there are no regulations that

determine how close hotels and other commercial establishments can be to the reserve

• In November 2004, District collector ordered a survey of hotels to verify whether the conditions stipulated at the time of building clearance were being met.

• Number of conditions, which relate to the built-up area sanctioned, to maintaining a green belt and planting trees around the area, had not been adhered to by almost all the hotels surveyed

A few gain but many lose

Paying the price• There are four villages with a population of 700 in

the core area of the park; • 25 with a population of 8,642 in the entire tiger

reserve and • 96 villages within a 2-km radius of the reserve

with a population of over 100,000. • Between 1975 and 1979, 11 villages with a total

population of 681 and total livestock of 3,879 were relocated from the reserve.

• 8 villages were moved to an area called Kailashpuri

• 3, Lahapur, Nagadi and Ranthambore, were relocated to Gopalpura. Both the sites were on the fringes of the park and did not decrease pressure on it significantly.

Paying the price• Gopalpura demonstrates all that is wrong with

relocation programmes. • About 50 families live in the village• No electricity, no water for irrigation, no medical

facilities, no land to grow fodder for animals, till 5 years back no school

• Many have sold their land and moved to Jaipur to work as labourers.

• “When we were relocated we were promised electricity, water, a school and medical facilities. We got nothing.”

• The number of livestock per household has fallen from 50 to two or three.

• Obviously villagers are angry. They think creation of park has created only more problems for them. Uprooted from their homes.

Bleak future

Fighting to survive• Uliana and Mai Kalan, located in the fringe area,

have, however, taken a confrontationist route. • In 2000, police fired 17 rounds to disperse

villagers protesting against the park and its policies.

• In 2002, Ulliana villagers allegedly assaulted police, who retaliated by opening fire, killing one person. The inhabitants of this village, Uliana, then invaded the park and laid siege inside with their animals. It lasted a month and was lifted only after high-level political intervention. Even today, Ranthambore simmers.

A system in shambles