Tiger Reserves set to reopen from Oct 1 with 25% fee hike
| Date :30-Sep-2023 |
By Ankita Garg
All the tiger reserves and national parks in Madhya Pradesh are set to reopen their core area from October 1, three months after the monsoon break. Forest Department has proposed Government to revise the entry fee by 25 to 50 per cent. Van Vihar National Park has proposed to hike its entry fee by 50 to 100 per cent. After Government approves the proposal of parks and reserves, entry fee would be costlier for the tourists. In the year 2015, Government had released notification to revise entry fee of tiger reserves and National Parks by 10 per cent on every three years. After this notification, entry fee of tiger reserves were swelled but there were no changes in fee of Van Vihar National Park, Mukundpur Safari and Pachmarhi. Last time Van Vihar raised its entry fee during year 2016. This year management has proposed to increase the fee concern over maintenance and other expenses.
Aseem Srivastav, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), said, “National Parks and Tiger Reserves are set to reopen after three months’ monsoon period from October 1. If Government approves to increase the fee, people who have already booked their holiday destination will have to pay the difference amount separately on the spot.” He further informed that every monsoon, core area of tiger reserves are closed for safety purpose. He said this is breeding time for wildlife and jungle remains risky for the human being. Now tourists can enjoy trip to all the tiger reserves and jungle safari in state. As online booking of tiger reserves were opened from August 29, most of resorts and hostels are having full booking for the month of October. As there are holidays in the month of October, November and December, people have booked their resorts and hostels in advance to spend some days in wild.
The core area of tiger reserves and national parks remain closed between July and September every year on account of rain. This year good business is being expected around the reserves as Madhya Pradesh has gained popularity among national and internal tourist because of cheetah and dense population of tiger. The State has all the prime species of big cat in its reserves. Most of the reserve, including Bandhavgarh, Panna, Kanha, Pench, have full booking of tourists. Though buffer zone of tiger reserves were opened during monsoon but most of tourists were waiting for visit to the core areas. PCCF Srivastav said that closure of reserves for three months provide privacy to the wildlife and also avoid man-animal conflict. Visiting core area of tiger reserves during Monsoon is very risky for human being as it increases the chance of man-animal conflict. After closing the park, patrolling was increased in all reserves and parks to ensure safety of wildlife. Special patrolling team was assigned in Kanha, Panna, Bandhavgarh, Pench and other reserve of State to keep an eye on poachers.
