Regular patrol, CCTV feeds after viral video of tiger mobbed in Tadoba buffer | Nagpur News
Nagpur: The Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) administration decided to station a dedicated patrol vehicle on the Padmapur-Moharli road and install CCTVs at around 10 sensitive tiger crossing points in the buffer periphery following Sunday’s incident in which tourists stepped out of their vehicles to film a tiger on the public road.A viral video from the Sunday incidents shows a sub-adult cub of tigress Chhoti Madhu attempting to cross the Padmapur-Moharli road even as people got dangerously close to the animal with phones in their hands. TATR registered a forest offence under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.TATR field director Dr Prabhu Nath Shukla said the Padmapur-Moharli stretch was the most sensitive tiger crossing corridor and warranted a permanent patrol presence. “A vehicle dedicated solely to patrol this stretch will ensure a faster response when animals are on the road and deter visitors from stopping or alighting,” Shukla said. He added that live CCTVs feeds would be monitored from the TATR control room, allowing real-time intervention.Shukla clarified the incident was not from the safari zone but from a public road. The buffer zone, he noted, is a multi-use landscape where 95 villages are interspersed with forests, with state transport buses and resort traffic passing regularly through the same roads that tigers use as movement corridors. Shukla said, “Public roads providing connectivity to these villages pass through this area, and state transport corporation buses operate on them. Since resorts are located outside the forest, both tourists and local residents frequently travel through the buffer. As forests exist on both sides, wild animals crossing the road is a regular occurrence.”He added that existing safety infrastructure on the road includes vehicle inspection and tourist registration at Padmapur check post. “There is a second check post near Moharli, where team patrols to prevent vehicles from stopping inside forest stretches, no-entry barriers at every forest entry point and fire line, and round-the-clock patrolling by protection hut workers and fire watchers. Night patrols are also conducted and unauthorised movement draws immediate action,” said Shukla.
