'Political Pressure' Transfers Bleeding Amrabad Tiger Reserve Of Critical Staff
The Amrabad reserve has been emerging as a conservation success story with tiger numbers going up over the last decade or so. As per the all-India tiger estimation data for 2022, the reserve had 22 tigers, that rose to 34 in 2024, according to officials.
HYDEARABAD: The Amrabad tiger reserve, which was flagged in April by Union environment and forests minister Bhupender Yadav as having a severe shortage of staff, has lost one more senior staffer, a forest range officer (FRO) who has been deputed to the GHMC.
The reserve is now left with five range officers for the eight ranges that the 2,611-sq km reserve is divided into.
The Amrabad reserve has been emerging as a conservation success story with tiger numbers going up over the last decade or so. As per the all-India tiger estimation data for 2022, the reserve had 22 tigers, that rose to 34 in 2024, according to officials.
In April, Bhupender Yadav wrote to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy urging him to fill the large number of frontline tiger protection positions in Telangana’s two tiger reserves – Amrabad, and Kawal – with the vacancies standing at 41.61 per cent of the sanctioned strength in these two tiger reserves. Amrabad by itself has more than half – 52 per cent – of its required staff position vacant.
Incidentally, the latest FRO to go on deputation to the GHMC was in-charge of the Maddimadugu range of the Amrabad reserve where the forest department is all set to launch its largest prey augmentation centre later this month.
Responding to inquiries on why senior officers were being transferred from the Amrabad tiger reserve when it was reeling under severe staff shortfall, a senior official said the forest department was coming under “severe political pressure” to allow transfers of officials and staff to urban locations. Just in the past few months, the reserve had to give up five officials including forest divisional officers, forest section officers and forest range officers with the latest transfer taking this tally to six.
Despite being recruited for service in the forest department, the official said “some do not want to work in the forest. And the department is unable to take the political pressure exerted on it on the transfers.”