Sariska (Rajasthan), July 26 (ANI): The Union Government, has signed a tripartite agreement with the Rajasthan Government and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for the conservation of tiger in the Sariska and Ranthambore tiger reserve.

The pact was signed after a two day all India meet of field directors of tiger reserves in Sariska on Saturday.

Speaking on this occasion, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said, Rajasthan has promised accountability and adequate utilization of funds as the Centre plans to release rupees 300 million for the conservation of tigers in its two tiger reserves.

“I am happy that Rajasthan is the first state where we are having this tripartite agreement,” Ramesh said.

Three tigers- one male and two females were relocated from Ranthambore to Sariska reserve after it lost all of big cats, mainly due to poaching and other reasons.

Ranthambore, spread over 700 sq km area, has more than 40 tigers in the national park.

India has half the world’s surviving tigers, but conservationists says the country is losing the battle to save the big cats. There were about 40,000 tigers in India a century ago, but decades of poaching had cut their number to about 3,700, according to a count conducted in 2001 and 2002.

According to conservationists the new census results suggested there was a decline of 65 percent in Madhya Pradesh, which has one of the largest populations of tigers in the country.

It is difficult to trace the exact figures of tiger because of its shy nature. No government keeps the records on poaching, is also a blockade to the conservation efforts.

The trade of tiger parts and products are illegal but poachers still operate with impunity because a single animal can fetch up to $50,000 in the international market.

Besides the highly priced tiger skins, organs, teeth, bones and penises of the big cats fetch high prices in the black market, for the Chinese medicine. (ANI)