Don't need advice from NGOs on tiger reserve in Goa, says Vishwajit Rane

After being trolled through the day on Friday, following his public opposition to setting up of a tiger reserve in Goa, Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday slammed his critics and insisted that a tiger reserve was impossible to conceive in Goa because of the state's small size.

In a video message on Saturday, Rane also said that there was no proposal before the state government for setting up such a reserve in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary, which is partly spread over Rane's Assembly constituency of Valpoi in North Goa. "Many times people take one statement and they try to turn and twist it around without even understanding. A lot of these people who make these statements, you should go back and check their overall contribution to the state of Goa," Rane said in a video message on Saturday.

"I want to ask these environmentalists. How many times have you read a statement or a study to tell us how forest management has to take place? I am going to do this very professionally. I don't require environmentalists or NGOs to come and advise me," he also said.

The demand for a tiger reserve in Goa has come up in wake of several sightings of tigers in the state's forested areas which run contiguous with forests in Karnataka and Maharashtra along the Western Ghats. Four tigers were killed in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary over the last three years too.

Rejecting the concept of a tiger reserve, Rane on Friday had said that the tigers sighted in Goa were not resident beasts, but ones which merely passed through Goa to and from the forests of Karnataka. His comments, were, however slammed by environmentalists in the state, even as Rane was trolled on social media, with users pointing out the stark irony about his opposition to the reserve and his self-proclaimed passion as a wildlife photographer. Rane's social media timeline, incidentally, is frequently peppered by photos of his visit to wildlife sanctuaries in India and game reserves in Africa.

"My most passionate hobby is wildlife photography. I have spent more than 15-20 years in various forests understanding the forests, forest management, forest planning and I have seen that many times when a person makes a statement, many times people like to troll you on social media. Many times people even try to mock you without even understanding what the laws of the forest are," Rane however said on Wednesday, insisting that the tiger was his favourite animal.

But he however also stuck to his guns on his opposition to a tiger reserve.

"If somebody thinks I am going to be disheartened or I am going to move aside from my existing agenda, no I am not. I definitely do not think a tiger reserve is required for Goa. Tiger reserve is something meant for larger states because there are other complexities involved in this. There is no proposal as of now on my table or in Goa to make any kind of tiger Reserve. I am very firm," he said.

Watch latest videos by DH here: