NEW DELHI: Hearing a PIL that cited an SIT report on rampant tiger poaching in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to seek a nation-wide CBI probe into the involvement of a wide network of poachers, smugglers and hawala operators, Supreme Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Centre, MP and Maharashtra, as well as National Tiger Conservation Authority, in this regard.Petitioner Gaurav Kumar Bansal, citing the SIT report on poaching in the two states and the trafficking of body parts to Myanmar, said India’s tiger population, of which 30% resides in buffer forests outside sanctuaries and is most vulnerable to poaching, faces a grave threat from this syndicate.A bench of CJI B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran asked additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati to get the responses of the Centre and NTCA and issued notices to the two states. The responses are to be filed in four weeks.The petitioner said forests of MP and Maharashtra constitute the heartland of the tiger’s habitat and highlighted what the SIT report revealed: “Tigers are increasingly being killed outside the boundaries of protected areas, in territorial forest divisions and corridors which lack effective surveillance and protection. These areas, identified as vital dispersal habitats by the Wildlife Institute of India, have become the prime targets of organised gangs of poachers.”The petitioner also quoted a TOI news story (Feb 8) on rising demand for tiger bone glue in southeast Asia leading to an increase in the poaching of tigers and leopards in India.
