Corbett national park, India’s famous tiger sanctuary, turns haven for the corrupt

All is not well with the Corbett Tiger Reserve. Often touted as one of India’s best managed national parks, it’s on the verge of losing much of its shine. Sheer mismanagement at middle and top levels, laced with serious allegations of illegal constructions right inside the forest and felling of trees has rattled the Uttarakhand government in the recent days.

Surprisingly, the ferocity with which some of top officials of the national park were made to bear the brunt a few days ago somehow escaped the attention of mainline media.

Consider this: JS Suhag, till recently the Chief Wildlife Warden of Uttarakhand has been placed under suspension. Rahul, the director of Corbett Park has been attached to the Dehradun office of the state’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF). And the man who has been in the thick of several controversies, Kishan Chand, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Kalagarh, too has been suspended.

Also read: As another tiger dies in Pench Tiger Reserve, toll rises to 5 in 15 days

In fact, it was during Kishan Chand’s tenure that some of the most blatant misuse of power, in the form of several illegal constructions and felling down of hundreds of trees, allegedly took place.

NTCA steps in

The whistleblower here has been none other than the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). An inquiry conducted by it last year found most of the allegations to be true. And though it recommended strict action against the erring officers, nothing happened for months. For those interested in joining the unseen dots, the action against three officers has taken place within months of Harak Singh Rawat, the state Forest Minister till January 21, 2022, being booted out of the BJP for alleged anti-party activities.

It’s clear that the dispensation under new Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami wants to clear the mess. The order against the three forest officers was issued on April 27 by Uttarakhand’s Principal Secretary (Forest) RK Sudhanshu.

Unlike many other tiger reserves, such as Sariska of Rajasthan and Panna of Madhya Pradesh, both of which carry the dubious distinction of having lost all their tigers to poachers at one point, the Corbett national park is the poster boy of India’s national parks. “Nothing can go wrong here,” it’s often argued. And it has a solid reputation, built over decades, which backs its unassailable position. After all, it was India’s first national park, and it was from here that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched the Project Tiger in the early 70s, perhaps the most important intervention in the post-Independence history of conservation and the one which pulled the tiger from the jaws of extinction.

Corbett’s troubles

Not that Corbett Park doesn’t have its share of controversies. In the 90s, it lost some half a dozen elephants – all tuskers – to ivory poachers. Nothing much came out of the investigation, and the matter is still shrouded in mystery.

Also read: Missing roar: Why rising tiger deaths met with a whimper

But otherwise, Corbett park has remained largely unaffected by incidents of poaching, man-animal conflicts and other issues which have repeatedly dogged other tiger reserves. So far it has been a smooth sailing for India’s premier reserve.

But not anymore, it seems.