By IANS
New Delhi : The central government has given states Rs.330.58 million in fiscal 2007-08 for protection of tigers, India’s parliament was informed Wednesday.
In reply to a question, Minister of State for Environment and Forests S. Regupathy informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry had written to all state governments five times in 2007, asking them to set up steering committees for the protection of India’s national animal.
The ministry had announced last month that only an estimated 1,411 tigers were left in the wild in India’s forests, less than half from the last estimate in 2002.
Regupathy informed parliament that the centre had given the states Rs.328.99 million for tiger protection in 2006-07, Rs.334.55 million in 2005-06 and Rs.276.38 million in 2004-05.
This fiscal, the largest amount of Rs.313 million has been given to West Bengal, followed by Madhya Pradesh with Rs.97.4 million, Karnataka with Rs.39.97 million, Rajasthan with Rs.37.87 million and Maharashtra with Rs.29.57 million.