The National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) technical committee has approved the proposal to notify Madhav National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district as a tiger reserve, an official said.

It will be the eighth tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, the official said on Sunday.

Kanha, Satpura, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Sanjay Dubri, Panna and Veerangana Durgavati are the existing tiger reserves in the state.

"The NTCA technical committee has approved the proposal to notify Madhav National Park as a tiger reserve. It will have a total area of 1,751 square kilometres, comprising a core area of 375 sq km and buffer area of 1,276 sq km. The committee also approved the release of a tiger and a tigress into the park," Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, L Krishnamoorthy told PTI.

The proposal was prepared following directives from Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, he said.

"This conservation initiative by the Madhya Pradesh government will strengthen wildlife management in the Madhav National Park and Kuno National Park. It will bring about ecotourism benefits to local communities and development of the region," Krishnamoorthy said.

The Kuno National Park is the only abode of cheetahs in the country. It is located in Sheopur district and is close to the Madhav National Park.

As per the 'Status of Tigers: Co-predators & Prey in India-2022' report released by the NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India, the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh is estimated to be 785, the highest in the country, followed by Karnataka-563 and Uttarakhand-560.

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