The central government will fix accountability for the exaggerated projection of the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh's Panna forest reserve, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Wednesday.
The central government will also take follow-up action on the disappearance of the big cats from the sanctuary with an investigation team fixing the blame on poachers.
"Initial figures said the tiger population was 30. Our own estimate was that the figure was exaggerated. Now, it has been proved beyond doubt that the number of tigers there is effectively zero," Ramesh told newspersons here.
The minister said the Special Investigation Team probing the disappearance of the big cats has given a report to him stating most of the tigers in the sanctuary were killed by poachers.
"We will fix accountability for this," he said.
The minister said henceforth central allocation for the various tiger projects will be made on the basis of a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU).
Altogether 37 MOUs among the central and state governments and authorities of the respective tiger projects will be inked, he said. The matter is likely to get the cabinet nod in two to three weeks, he said.