The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has listed several "flaws" in lion conservation efforts in Gujarat in its report tabled in the state Legislative Assembly today.
The CAG questionned the non-approval of a new protected area for lions despite "high instances of deaths of lions" in their present habitats.
The report noted that the ongoing fencing work along the railway tracks near Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, being carried out to prevent lions from venturing out, has not succeeded in its purpose.
In its scrutiny report on state Forest and Environment Department's efforts for lion conservation, the CAG observed that the population of Asiatic Lions has increased from 205 in 1979 to 523 lions in 2015.
"Out of these, 167 lions---that is one-third of total population--have their habitat outside the Gir Protected Area (GIR PA), risking human lives, livestock as well as the safety of the lions themselves," as per the CAG.
The GIR PA included Gir, Girnar, Paniya and Mitiyala sanctuaries and the Gir National Park.
As per the CAG, as many as 21 lions have died due to "unnatural reasons between 2012-13 to 2016-17".
To provide a safe corridor for the lions moving out of the GIR PAs, the Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) has proposed a new sanctuary in over 30,000 hectares of land in Amreli and Bhavnagar district in 2005, the report said.
Later, the proposal was revised and it was decided that it will be Conservation Reserve (CR) spread across only 10,953 hectares, it said.
The CAG observed that as on May 2017, the Revenue department has not transferred around 4,800 hectares of waste land to the Forest department to set up the CR.
"Thus, the declaration of the lion habitat area as CR is pending despite lapse of more than 11 years," it said, adding that no new protected habitat for lion has been approved since the formation of the Girnar Sanctuary in 2008.
"Despite an increase in population of lions during 2011-15 by 54.60 per cent outside the Gir PA and high instances of death of lions, no new protected habitat for lions has been approved," the CAG noted.
The report also stated that the ongoing fencing work along the railway tracks near the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary has not succeeded in its purpose, as an internal communication of 2016 among officials has revealed that lions have entered in fenced area on eight occasions.
"Thus, fencing of the railway tracks, though a major step for conservation of wildlife, has not succeeded in preventing movement of lions on tracks," the CAG noted.
The Gujarat government's ambitions project of DNA mapping of lions also came under CAG scanner for being "slow despite availability of funds".
Though the Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation (GFRF) "did not have the expertise in the field of scientific research on genomics, which was the core of the requirement of the project, the project was transferred to the GFRF", it noted.
During the audit, the CAG also found that there was no permanent technical staff in GFRF to run the project.
The CAG also made its observations about the unauthorised execution of work of laying transmission lines inside the Wild Ass Sanctuary in Surendranagar district by Adani Power Limited in 2009.
The CAG noted that "though the Ministry of Forest and Environment and Climate Change directed the Gujarat government to enquire into the matter in 2015 and forward the draft complaint within a month..no action had been taken even after the lapse of two years (May 2017)".
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