The Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, has expressed concern over the Telangana State government’s inability to pay its share of Project Tiger, a scheme sponsored by the Central government. Despite boasting a budget of 2.75 lakh crore, the State government has not been able to provide Rs 2.2 crore for Project Tiger. The scheme was launched 50 years ago to promote tiger conservation in India, which has over 70 percent of the world’s wild tiger population. The Central government is working on a mission to protect and preserve the tiger population and its habitat. Project Tiger is being implemented in 18 tiger range States, including Telangana, which has two tiger reserves – Kawal and Amrabad – and shares the Nagarjunsagar Srisailam Tiger reserve with Andhra Pradesh. Since 2014, the Centre has been supporting various schemes in Telangana, including Project Tiger and Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme (FPM). The State government’s failure to release its share has resulted in the two reserves being unable to find financial support for regular activities such as weeding and fire-fighting operations. The Centre transfers its share of funds in four installments, while the State has to release its share within a month of receiving the share from the Central Government. Unfortunately, this has not been happening, leading to a severe fund crunch for the Tiger reserves.
