Tour Operators for Tigers (TOFT), one of the most prominent association of tiger-tourism operators had submitted a business proposal to the Madhya Pradesh government to run the exclusive Africa-style eco-tourism zone adjacent to Mowgli land-Pench Tiger Reserve.
TOFT, which has several high-end eco-resort owners and tour operators as partners across the most prominent tiger reserves, has openly solicited and collected funds from tour operators in several countries to fight the Supreme Court's ban and the government's guidelines restricting tourism in the name of Guide Association of Madhya Pradesh and Kanha Lodge Association.
Part of the proposal includes leasing out 150 sq km of prime forest land to private tourism companies next to a prominent tiger reserve for 50 years. Buy it, if possible. Run an exclusive resort on the cordoned off land with rents upto $4,000 a night providing revenue of upto $4 million a year. Hire a few locals for minor services like supervisors, guards and other lower-level functionaries and so on as per a report in TOI.
The association, along with prominent wildlife NGOs like Wildlife Protection Society of India, whose head Belinda Wright also runs a resort in MP, has taken a public stand against stopping tourism in the core of tiger reserves. TOFT has opposed the imposition of a cess on its revenues to be used for conserving wildlife and providing livelihood to locals as proposed in the government guidelines.
The TOFT Pench proposal was advocated in 2009 and got an in-principle approval from the MP government, which too has opposed the restrictions on tiger tourism, but is yet to take off.
But the details of the proposal give an insight into the kind of tourism TOFT advocates in India. Documents show that the 'conservancy' operation was to be run by a company called Great Plains Safari Company, which runs similar operations in Africa and National Geographic Society. It was supported by a carbon trading firm backed by the international bank Credit Suisse and the then WWF chairman.
» Read Complete News.....(You need to login first to read complete news). New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News