Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): After Ratapani Sanctuary received status of a Tiger Reserve, the tourist inflow is expected to increase there by leaps and bounds. With rise in tourist inflow, tourism-related activities will also get fillip automatically. A forest officer of Ratapani Tiger Reserve said that when Ratapani was a sanctuary, it was not on the most sought after destinations of tourists.
After it received the tiger reserve status, it has automatically come on national and international map and tourists will automatically get attracted towards it. The inflow of tourist to Ratapani Tiger Reserve will not only fill coffers of the reserve but will also provide job opportunities to locals living near the reserve.
While going to Ratapani, tourists will halt their vehicles to have tea or other eatables at roadside shops. Hence, the villagers opening roadside shops are also going to get benefitted immensely in indirectly.
Likewise, hotels, lodges and restaurants will also come up at various locations situated near the reserve and will recruit locals for various jobs. As Ratapani Tiger Reserve is situated close to Bhopal, hotels there will also be occupied by tourists. INSET Two villages of Ratapani give consent for relocation The two villages situated inside Ratapani Tiger Reserve have given consent for relocation.
They will be relocated at two different places. One village is going to be relocated at Sultanpur Jodh area and another in Obaidullaganj area. ‘We are going to relocate them in hybrid manner. This means that if there are seven adult units in a family then around 10 acre of land will be provided to two members and cash compensation will be given to five remaining members,’ Ratapani Tiger Reserve official Sunil Bhardwaj said.
Bhopal to become tiger capital: CM
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that the specialty of Ratapani Tiger Reserve is that it is situated very close to the state capital i.e Bhopal. Now Bhopal will get a new identity of tiger capital as well. The Ratapani Tiger Reserve area falls in Raisen, Bhopal and Sehore. After Ratapani’s tiger reserve status, tourism-related activities will increase. There will be no change in rights of villages and they will get job opportunities.
