USTR records tiger movement after ‘revival of redundant corridor’

Raipur: The Udanti–Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) in Chhattisgarh has recorded the movement of three tigers over the last nine months.The tiger reserve has attributed the development to joint efforts by security forces and the USTR administration. According to USTR Deputy Director Varun Jain, male tigers are venturing into new territories as populations in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra reach saturation. The 2022 tiger census recorded 785 tigers in Madhya Pradesh and 444 in Maharashtra, he said."While male tigers can travel up to 1,500 km, tigresses typically restrict their movement to a range of 100-150 km," Jain said. He noted that a male tiger photographed in USTR in May 2025 was recently camera-trapped in the Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, identified by its unique stripe pattern. Reports from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Tiger Cell also confirmed that a male tiger from the Kawal Tiger Reserve in Telangana moved to USTR in 2022 before migrating to the Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha in 2023."Joint efforts by the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve (USTR) administration and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have led to the restoration of a redundant tiger corridor in the Bastar-Gadchiroli region. Intensive anti-Naxal operations, coupled with anti-poaching drives and the removal of encroachments, have improved forest health and enabled big cat movement across state borders," the deputy director said. The restored corridor connects the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra's Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts to the Indravati Tiger Reserve in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, he said. This route further extends to the USTR in Gariaband and the Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha. The forest officer confirmed that the USTR team conducted joint anti-poaching operations in Gadchiroli, Pakhanjur, and Bijapur, and cleared 750 hectares of encroached land within the reserve. The state forest department is preparing to translocate two tigresses from Madhya Pradesh to USTR to establish a resident population. The proposal is currently awaiting approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), he added.Beyond tigers, the Indravati-Udanti Sitanadi corridor is viewed as a vital path for wild buffaloes and elephants. Forest officials have observed a steady increase in elephant migration from neighbouring eastern states into Chhattisgarh, driven by industrial activities in those regions. The corridor will serve as a primary gateway for elephants moving toward the Bastar forests. Kanker district has already recorded elephant sightings in Pakhanjur and Sarona. Jain added that large-scale habitat improvement plans are being developed to link the wild buffalo populations of Indravati and Pamed to those in USTR.