Jharkhand: Soft-release centres for Cheetals coming up at Palamu Tiger Reserve

RANCHI: Four soft-release centres for Cheetals are under construction in Jharkhand’s Palamu Tiger Reserve (PTR) for augmenting the prey base for predators, an official said.

A fifth one is in the process of being set up at Budha Pahad area, once a Maoist bastion, the official said.

Cheetals would be translocated at the soft-release centres from Betla area of the reserve and the initiative is expected to bring back tigers to PTR, the official said.

The PTR, one of the first nine tiger reserves of the country, which was teeming with tigers in the 1970s reported nil tigers in 2018.

A tiger was spotted in PTR in March 2023, after more than three years.

The state forest department has also decided to develop grassland and construct check dams on the foothills of Budha Pahad, located along Latehar and Garhwa districts, around 150 km from state capital Ranchi. The foothills of Budha Pahad in Kutku range has been a tiger corridor between Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh since long.

Grassland development and construction of soft-release centre and check dam might boost the frequency of tiger movement in future in the region, which is close to Guru Ghasidas National Park (GGNP) in Chhattisgarh.

The GGNP connects Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh and provides a corridor for tigers to move between Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh and PTR in Jharkhand, he said.

“The National Tiger Reserve Authority (NTCA) has given its approval in-principle to our proposals. We have recently submitted fund requisition to NTCA for

soft-release centre.”