Bhopal: Forest minister, two officials return from study tour to South Africa

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A delegation led by forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah and two senior department officials returned from South Africa on Monday. Their visit to South Africa was a study tour by the forest department and was seen in connection with a proposed cheetah translocation project related to Kuno Palpur Sanctuary.

A forest officer said that the team which went to South Africa returned to New Delhi on Monday morning. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Chief, Forest Force) RK Gupta is staying back in New Delhi. Sources said that Gupta is likely to meet some senior officers of NTCA and apprise them of the findings of the study tour.

This delegation left for South Africa on August 22. The buzz is that Shah along with the two senior officials were visiting South Africa to see in person wildlife conservation and management in the foreign country.

The officials are expected to return here on Tuesday. Notably, Indian government had inked an agreement with Namibia for the Cheetah Translocation project. Kuno National Park in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh, which was home to their Asiatic counterparts over a 100 years ago, has been selected for the relocation.

Cheetahs will be brought from South Africa also but it is learnt that so far no agreement has been signed in this regard. “Free Press” made efforts to contact Forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah and both senior forest officers but their phone could not be reached.