The National Tiger Conservation Authority approved the Chhattisgarh government’s proposal to declare the combined areas ofthe Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve. This will be the fourth Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, after the Udanti-Sitanadi, Achanakmar, and Indravati Reserves.
The new Reserve is located in the northern part of the state, bordering Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Guru Ghasidas National Park is in Koriya district and Tamor Pingla is in Surajpur district.
Guru Ghasidas National Park was the last known habitat of the Asiatic cheetah in the country. Originally part of the Sanjay Dubri National Park, Guru Ghasidas Park was created as a separate entity in Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja region after the formation of the state in 2001.
Turning Guru Ghasidas into a Tiger Reserve is important because it connects Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh and provides a corridor for tigers to move between the Bandhavgarh and Palamau Tiger Reserves.
The approval was granted under Section 38V(1) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which states that ‘Tiger Conservation Plan: The State Government shall, on the recommendation of the Tiger Conservation Authority, notify an area as a tiger reserve.’