The Government’s ambitious plan to introduce African cheetah into Indian terrain sustained a blow on Tuesday with the Supreme Court ordering stay on the project till the necessary sanctions andperm

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of the Cheetah Reintroduction Programme by which the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had proposed to import the African large-sized feline to India.

A forest bench comprising justices K.S. Radhakrishan and C.K. Prasad restrained the government from going ahead with the Rs. 300 crore project in the wake of questions being raised that a “totally misconceived” venture was pushed without consulting that National Board for Wildlife (NBW) which is a statutory body for the enforcement of the wild life law.

Tells SC State Has All Expertise, Infrastructure & Environment

New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh on Monday pitched in with a plea in the Supreme Court for translocation of Asiatic lions from Gujarat to its Kuno Palpur sanctuary, insisting it has the entire wherewithal to ensure harmonious environment to the threatened species. State counsel Vibha Datta Makhija told a special forest bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and C K Prasad that Madhya Pradesh had “all the necessary infrastructure,

Madhya Pradesh on Monday told the Supreme Court that it has “all the necessary infrastructure, expertise and environment for translocating lions” from Gujarat’s Gir to its Kuno Palpur sanctuary.

There seems to be no meeting point between the governments of two BJP stalwarts Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan on shifting of the Asiatic lions from Gir forests in Gujarat to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

While the Chouhan government on Monday furnished details about the preparatory steps taken with “active support” of the Centre for comfortable living of five to eight Asiatic lions in Kuno but the Modi administration was not ready to part with even a single big cat out of the improved population of 300 in Gir till the Centre’s proposal for reintroduction of “Cheetaha” is successfully implemented in Kuno.

The Gujarat government on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court any effort by the Centre to translocate Asiatic lions from its Gir sanctuary to Kuno Palpur wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said in his message on the occasion of Wildlife Week that full protection should be given to wildlife along with increasing greenery.

The Madhya Pradesh forest department’s wildlife wing, in association with the Wildlife Institute of India, is close to introducing the extinct cheetah at Palpur Kuno wildlife sanctuary in Sheopur district.