Shivpuri: In a bid to revive feline population at the Madhav National Park (MNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will release a tiger and two tigresses in the park on Friday, officials said.
According to the Forest officials, the tiger was captured from the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology's (MANIT) in October. It will be brought from Satpura Tiger Reserve. On the other hand, the two tigresses will be brought from Panna and Badhavgarh Tiger Reserves.
The three felines will be kept in separate enclosures for some time and later released into the wild at the MNP which is spread over an area of 375 square kilometres. This will be for the third time the MP forest department will re-introduce a tiger in a wildlife sanctuary.
All three big cats will be radio-collared and three teams have been formed to keep an eye on them. All preparations to release the tigers in MNP have been completed by the administration. The tiger reintroduction project also coincides with the birth anniversary of of Madhavrao Scindia, father of union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
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The Union Civil Aviation Minister in a Twitter post said that his father Madhavrao Scindia had a special attachment to wild animals. He had a dream to settle a tiger in Madhav National Park, he said. "Tomorrow is a historic day for Shivpuri and Madhya Pradesh. I urge all the people of the state to participate in this," he said.
"Re-introduction of tigers in Madhav National Park will be a true tribute to my respected father Madhavrao Scindia. Be a witness to the dreams come true,” Scindia wrote on the eve of the reintroduction programme. As per officials, the tigers will be released into Madhav National Park at 1.25 PM today.
Chauhan will leave for Gwalior Airport at 12 noon by a special plane from the State Hangar of Bhopal. From here, he along with Scindia will leave for Madhav National Park in Shivpuri by helicopter at 12.55 PM. They will land at the helipad of the tiger enclosure built in Madhav National Park at 01.25 PM where they will release three tigers into the enclosure.
According to local residents and officials, no tiger has been seen in and around MNP since 2010. State forest minister Vijay Shah will also be present on the occasion.
