Governance collapsed at Sariska: Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi : Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that there is a complete breakdown of administration at the Sariska reserve in Rajasthan where a tiger was found dead recently.

“The main cause is complete collapse of governance and administration at Sariska,” said Ramesh on Wednesday after rushing to the reserve where a tiger was suspected to have been poisoned to death by local people.

He said “it appears to be poisoning but there is no conclusive proof.”

A senior reserve official said they were trying to step up their dialogue with the villagers.

The vets in the tiger reserve found after an autopsy on the carcass that the three-and-a-half-year old big cat, which was translocated from Ranathambhore National Park in 2008, had been poisoned to death.

Police suspect that the predator was killed by the villagers around the reserve.

The autopsy report was different from an earlier claim that the tiger had died in a territorial fight.

The post mortem report did not say about any mark of injury on the dead animal.

Two forest officials were suspended on Tuesday on charges of dereliction of duty.

Nearly six years ago Sariska lost all its tiger population due to poaching.

Later,Prime Minster Manmohan Singh convened a meeting of the National Board on Wildlife, which suggested relocation of five tigers to Sariska from Ranthambore National Park in 2008.