Minister of state for Environment and Forests (Independent charge) Jairam Ramesh, in a written reply told the Rajya Sabha on Monday said that the Panna Tiger Reserve has only two trans-located tigresses. They informed the House that the disappearance of tigers from Panna was confirmed through an assessment done by the Wildlife Institute of India. 

Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha that a Special Investigating Team was constituted by the ministry with an independent expert and members drawn from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority for ascertaining the causative factors for tiger extinction in Panna. 

The minister also said that the total allocation made to Project Tiger Scheme since its inception from 1973-74 till 2009-10 amounts to Rs 68267.84 lakh (Rs 682.68 crore). 

He, however, said that Project Tiger has put the endangered tiger on an assured path of recovery by saving it from extinction, as revealed by the recent findings of the All India tiger estimation using the refined methodology. This independent report highlights the achievements of Project Tiger by showing that viable tiger population exists only in tiger reserve areas, which are under the jurisdiction of Project Tiger, while the status of outside populations are highly depleted.