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

This will be the eighth tiger reserve of Madhya Pradesh, he said. Kanha, Satpura, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Sanjay Dubri, Panna and Veerangana Durgavati are the existing tiger reserves in MP.

"The NTCA technical committee has approved the proposal to notify Madhav National Park as a tiger reserve. It will have total area of 1751 square kilometres, comprising core area of 375 square kilometres and buffer area of 1276 square kilometres. The committee also approved the release of a tiger and a tigress into the park," L Krishnamoorthy, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF), Wildlife, 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 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 the cheetahs in the country. It is situated in Sheopur district and is close to Madhav National Park.

As per the Status of Tigers: Co-predators & Prey in India-2022' report released by National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India, Madhya Pradesh has 785 tigers, the highest in the country. The state is followed by Karnataka (563) and Uttarakhand (560).

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