Kawal Tiger Reserve is now an active corridor for tigers moving from the Tadoba–Kanhargaon Landscape as well as the Tipeshwar Sanctuary–Adilabad Landscape. It can further connect with the larger habitat linked with lndravati Tiger Reserve through the Kagaznagar–Pranhita Sanctuary–Kolamarka Conservation Reserve link.
Kawal Tiger Reserve has a good teak-dominated tiger habitat and is responding well to good and systematically planned management practices such as watershed and grassland management in a total area of 1200 ha and invasive weed control in about 11,000 ha.
Scientific management of weeds such as Hyptis suaveolens and Cassia tora is aiding in habitat restoration for herbivores. This is evident from the presence of chital and wild boar in scattered pockets in the core areas. This is bound to help in increasing the prey base for supporting a good population of tigers.
The development of percolation tanks and other water bodies to aggressively augment the moisture regime has improved the availability of water in the TR even in the summer months to a large extent.
Not only the core and buffer but also most of the areas which are active and identified corridors of KTR are now under the unified control of the Field Director since the formation of the special Kawal Tiger Reserve Circle.
The process of rehabilitation of two villages, viz. Maisampet and Rampur, is at an advanced stage and is expected to be completed by June 23. This should trigger the rehabilitation process, not only in the other two villages which are also eager to get rehabilitated but also some more of the remaining villages inside the core of KTR (presently 37).
The support of the villagers towards the TR management is being garnered by providing employment to local villagers (mostly tribals) for work in base camps for general patrolling and anti-poaching activities.
The measures to restrict and also control the vehicular traffic on the 40 km stretch of state highway through the core of the TR will not only reduce the road kills but also make people aware that they are passing through a tiger reserve. These measures are also generating some revenue for the Tiger Conservation Foundation.
Excellent habitat restoration work in the active corridors, through plantations and water augmentation, has been done on lands (over 250 ha) which were hitherto under encroachment. This needs to be continued further and is worthy of emulation in other TRs.
Active monitoring of tigers in the corridors, by engaging local people as animal trackers (72 at present) has helped in reducing instances of sudden encounters in areas where people are not used to tiger presence.
The number of adequately well-equipped base camps has been significantly increased to 65, and the improved use of M-STrIPES has increased the protection status.
Grazing is being controlled through restriction of cattle presence to parts of some compartments, keeping the rest of the area inviolate.
Increased public awareness activities (bird festivals, camps for students) are helping get media attention and support for the KTR management.
There are 37 villages and 67 other smaller settlements in the core area and 267 villages in the buffer. Their dependence on forest resources for grazing, NTFP collection, timber and firewood collection, encroachment and to a smaller extent killing of wild animals for meat are adversely affecting the habitat for the wild animals.
Considering the predominance of teak in most areas and the resultant leaf fall, the area is extremely fire prone, and extensive areas are still vulnerable to fire.
The inherent shortfall in the wild herbivore population is thus taking a longer time to build up.
Shortage of field staff: Though the recent recruitment has improved the number of FBOs who are in position (177/229), even now about 52 posts of Beat Officer are vacant.
Van Sanrakshan Samitis (VSSs), which were created earlier, have now mostly become inactive. Around 91 VSSs have been converted into eco-development committees, but their participation is very low.
Existing and proposed linear projects in the form of NH 44, NH 63, three broad gauge lines and irrigation projects (near Ada, in Asifabad District, and the Chanaka Korta barrage, across the Painganga River) are impediments to free tiger movement into Kawal TR.
Rescue, rehabilitation and human–wildlife conflict mitigation: The KTR management has inadequate strength to manage rescue and rehabilitation and human–wildlife conflict mitigation capabilities and infrastructure, including dedicated veterinary services.
Research collaboration with universities and other institutions as well as in-house research capabilities are found to be lacking.
Eco-tourism and involvement of locals in generating livelihood activities is restricted to a few places.
Residential quarters for frontline staff and officers are limited.
The Tiger Conservation Plan needs to be taken up for revision immediately.
Existing vacant posts of the frontline staff should be filled on priority considering the importance and potential of KTR as a future source population of tigers in the surrounding landscape.
The Special Tiger Protection Force needs to be constituted urgently to strengthen the protection.
Plans for mitigation measures of the proposed linear projects and retrofitting measures of existing projects need be made and implemented in a phased manner.
Rehabilitation of two villages, viz. Rampur and Maisampet, should be completed by June 23, and two morevillages should be rehabilitated by June 24. It is recommended that the state government submit the proposal to the NTCA for financial support for the rehabilitation after due scrutiny and approval.
Funding support for habitat improvement and protection activities should continue as is being done, exceptionally well, under CAMPA. State funding support needs to be augmented considering the potential of Kawal TR. The state share of CSS needs to be expedited.
Sirpur Kagaznagar has become an active corridor. Resident tigers are also being reported from the area. Considering this, an appropriate area of the division needs to be notified as a protected area (PA).
Encroachment removal and restoration needs to be planned in a phased manner, as is being done successfully.
Bidi patta (tendu) units in KTR need to be denotified.
Eco-sensitive zone notification around KTR needs to be pursued, and once the ESZ is notified, the Zonal Management Plan for the ESZ should be formulated urgently.
Wireless communication in all base camps should be made mandatory. This requirement may be appropriately incorporated in the TCP of the TR. If required, the NTCA may provide financial assistance for the purpose. Provision of arms to selected personnel needs to be done.
Animal rescue and conflict mitigation capability: Presently the TR has a mobile animal rescue vehicle, but no regular veterinary staff members of the FD are available to man the rescue vehicle. It is recommended that a mobile veterinary service unit be established to deal with wildlife-related rescue emergencies in the TR by enlisting the services of a veterinarian and one veterinary assistant. This is important to gain the support of the local people in view of the potential increase in human–wildlife interactions.
Funding support under CSR needs to be pursued not only to supplement the inputs but more to spread awareness regarding the importance of tiger conservation in the context of larger tiger landscapes of Central India.
The availability of residential units for the frontline staff and the officers needs to be improved.
Reintroduction of tigers in KTR: As per the existing TCP, after 5 years, if breeding females do not establish themselves in the reserve, the possibilities of reintroduction from the surplus population of Tadoba must be explored. The TCP was made in 2012, and females have possibly not covered the long distance of 130 km due to an absence of good cover in the corridors. Hence, after the relocation of five villages, an inviolate area of around 200 km2 would be available in a single stretch. The excellent habitat development works that have been done in the recent past are also showing good results. The reintroduction plan may be prepared in consultation with the NTCA and Wll. It is also recommended that a security audit of the TR be conducted before the reintroduction.
KTR should collaborate with reputed research/academic institutions to promote research activities as this would help in periodically assessing various values of the reserve and filling the gaps in knowledge.
KTR, in collaboration with the district administration and civil society organizations, should actively support the EDCs in promoting livelihoods and other income-generating activities in the zone of influence. It should also take necessary steps to improve the participation of local tribal communities in ecotourism.
The newly recruited frontline staff should be urgently trained through special wildlife conservation courses. The Training Need Assessment (TNA) of the key stakeholders should be conducted periodically to set learning objectives for future training courses and preparation of the Annual Training Plan.
The current pandemic has brought wider recognition of the problems posed by the diseases caused by multi-host pathogens (MHP). Hence, continuous health monitoring and surveillance of wild animals, proper diagnosis, and timely veterinary interventions are essential for the effective conservation of wild animals and the control of zoonoses. An adequate number of trained wildlife health professionals are required for wildlife health management, and disease monitoring & surveillance to prevent spilling over MHP to humans and domestic animals. As per the recommendation of the National Wildlife Action Plan (2017–31), the tiger reserves were expected to establish well-equipped wildlife rehabilitation cum disease surveillance centres supervised by trained wildlife veterinarians by 2023. Efforts should be made to establish the centre in KTR and create posts for a veterinary doctor and a compounder.
The website of KTR should be altered to ensure compliance with the latest edition of the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites, prepared by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The research studies and reports and learning resources of the reserve should be uploaded on the website.
There are wide variations among states in compensation policies for depredation by wild animals. An amount of Rs.20 lakhs is paid on account of the death of a human being in Maharashtra as against Rs.5 lakhs in Telangana. It would be appropriate for the state government to periodically review the compensation policy taking into cognizance changes made in the other states.