Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■year, reaching 111,000 last season. The reserve has atotal area of 1,300 sq km, with 20 per cent under thecore area.Ranthambhore, as any other park in India,charges entry fee and camera charges. The parkmanagement restricts the number of entries into thedesignated tourism zone. In September 2004, theregulation of activities relating to entry of touristsand vehicles was handed over to the statedepartment of tourism and the Rajasthan TourismDevelopment Corporation. This was allegedly donebecause of the reported instances of corruption andmishandling by the forest department of this highprofileand lucrative tourist trade.However, as the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972restricts entry into a protected area without thepermission of the chief wildlife warden or anauthorised officer, the order issued by the stategovernment (no F11(8) Forests/2001) says the entrywill be subject to the permits granted by the forestdepartment. The number of vehicles allowed entry isrestricted to 35, which make two trips each day,carrying a maximum of 462 people in each journey.The booking of tourists and vehicles is managed bythe tourist department. The routes that the touristvehicle will take is handed out by the touristdepartment based on the information provided inadvance by the park authorities. The touristdepartment has to ensure that the routes are allottedto vehicles in such a manner that there is noovercrowding or convergence on any one route, saysthis order. In other words, the regulation is designedfor good management. 6Tourism inside the parkSeveral submissions were made to the Tiger TaskForce during its visit to the Ranthambhore tigerreserve about the total mismanagement of touristactivity in the area, leading to corruption, nepotismand destructive impacts on the park itself. The parkauthorities and the staff of the tiger reserve, who metthe Task Force, informed it of their problems inmanaging this trade, which was now not under theirdirect control. They explained that even though,technically, they still controlled the entry numbers ofvehicles into the park, all other activities were out ofbounds for them.It is also evident that the rules of booking for avisit to the park have been made so convoluted inRanthambhore that they are amenable to corruptionand underhand dealings. The Task Force was toldthat numerous problems exist in the way bookingsare handled, as a result of which even hotelierssuffer. For instance, under the rules, bookings forpark visits need to be made in advance — at times theperiod of advance can stretch to as much as 60 days.All the vehicles going in are then designated fixedroutes to travel on. But it has now come to light thatvehicles jump the queue or choose specific routesthat have greater probability of sightings. A recentstudy by a local non-governmental organisation saysthat the routes are congested and overused. The factis that tourist operators only want to traverse routesthat have a higher probability of a tiger sighting. 7 Asa result, as it was reported to the Task Force, in thelast season (2004-2005) vehicles literally convergedfor hours in areas where tigers were sighted, oftencreating artificial barricades and so restricting theirmovement for hours. A maximum number ofvehicles used the few “tiger sighting routes”, theirdrivers throwing all rules out of the window.Such poorly managed tourism is beginning toimpact the reserve, say park authorities. Theyexplain they are finding that the reserve’s tigers aremoving out. This, they explain, is because of theintensive human pressure on the animal’s habitat.The Project Tiger directorate has also brought thisissue to the attention of the government of Rajasthan.It is difficult for the Task Force to verify thisassertion but, clearly, the latest tiger estimation inRanthambhore needs to be carefully evaluated in thelight of this growing impact of human disturbance onthe tiger’s habitat. Ranthambhore highlights whetherthe tourism department, instead of the forestdepartment, should run the tourism business in thepark. And what the management regimes andpractices should be that will make tourismsustainable and not destructive.Tourism outside the parkIn Ranthambhore tourism is privately operated.There are only two state government-run tourist resthouses. The rest of the industry — hotels, vehicles,guides — are in the hands of private entities. The listof hotels collated by the park authorities shows thatthere are 33 hotels in Ranthambhore, of which 26hotels are prominent. The clientele of these hotels issolely based on the reserve, as there is no otheralternative tourism attraction point. All these arehigh-end premium hotels providing exclusivewildlife experience. Therefore their business isdirectly linked with the infrastructure managementand character of tourism in the park.The costliest hotel around the reserve is Aman-e-Khas, owned by a multinational hotel chain, with aroom tariff of Rs 30,000 a night. The Oberoi chain’sVanya Vilas, with 25 rooms and an average room rateof Rs 16,500, follows. 8 Assuming a season of eightmonths, and using data park authorities provided —data related to the average room rate, occupancylevels — the annual turnover from the top elite 21hotels is an estimated Rs 21.81 crore. 9 This is clearlysubstantial and could be invested back into the parkand people.The way ahead 135