Raise tiger base camps to 125 within a month, panel tells Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh should strengthen its tiger protection network by increasing the number of base camps from around 100 to 125 and ensuring at least four field staff at every camp, a High-Level Committee constituted to examine recent tiger deaths has recommended.

Speaking to The Hindu, committee chairman P. Mallikharjuna Rao, IFS (retd.), and member-convener Rahul Pandey, IFS, said the expansion of base camps should be completed within one month. The government has already given in-principle approval for 25 new camps to bridge protection gaps. Until fresh recruitment is completed, existing personnel should be restructured and redeployed to provide security at the new camps, and recruitment should be taken up simultaneously.

The committee was constituted following the suspicious killing of a tiger in the Giddalur division of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) in Nallamala in July. The panel found that poachers kill wild animals for commercial purposes, targeting valuable body parts including skin, canine teeth and claws.

Mr. Rao and Mr. Pandey said Andhra Pradesh had a considerable length of tiger reserve area, requiring surveillance and field-level protection. Camera traps are deployed at about 900 identified points, two cameras at each location, with another 200 cameras for emergencies. Cameras are kept operational for 45 days at locations covering a four-square-kilometre radius and for 25 days at two-square-kilometre radius locations.

The committee said the camera network was adequate for core areas, and that further assessment would determine requirements along wildlife corridors in the State. Drone surveillance, currently available up to the Forest Range Officer level, should be extended to the Forest Section Officer level. Better coordination with the police was also recommended.

The panel identified gaps in resources and training and recommended capacity-building programmes for field staff every 15 days. Beat and base-camp resource maps should be prepared, the wireless communication network strengthened and tiger audits conducted frequently, particularly in the NSTR.

The committee verified tiger population data against previous years and found no decline. Andhra Pradesh has maintained around 64 to 65 tigers for the past three years, including 32 females. Of these, 17 to 20 are believed to be breeding females. The committee said more than 15 breeding females is considered healthy for stability and population growth, placing the State in a favourable position. Four tigers have died in the State this year, three of them in July.

The committee was constituted through G.O. RT No. 91 of the Environment, Forests and Science and Technology Department dated August 3, 2026, to investigate suspicious tiger deaths and strengthen wildlife conservation and management in the NSTR.