Tiger Safari at Mukundra Hills reserve to start after monsoon

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government is all set to start tiger safari at Mukundra Hills tiger reserve. If the senior officials are to be believed, the safari at Mukundra will be launched immediately after the monsoon season. This will be the third major tiger safari destination in Rajasthan. The other two most popular tiger reserves are Ranthambore national park in Sawai Madhopur and Sariska in Alwar.

The Mukndra Hills is spread over an area of 760 square hectares. There are 16 villages on its periphery. Fourteen of them are to be relocated. There are currently four tigers in the reserve area.

The proposal of allowing tiger safari has been under consideration for a long time. However, there had been a delay in relocation of tigers from Ranthambore.

The four tigers were shifted to Mukundra Hills over the last one year. The forest department believes that they will get the permission to start the safari by August.

The failure to decide the location for the safari entrance was another reasons cited by sources for the delay in the launch of the tiger safari at Mukundra Hills.

Many hoteliers and businessmen close to the BJP had bought land for developing tourism facilities near Gagron as it was earmarked for the location of the entrance gate during the previous BJP government.

But now the Congress-led government has decided to use Darrah as the entrance for tiger safari. This will derail the business plan of several hoteliers who had bought land near Gagron.

But the senior forest officials are not in the favour of Gagron because they say that it is not practical.