Funding shortfall hits tiger reserves in Assam, operations affected

GUWAHATI, April 9: The four tiger reserves of the State – all national parks – are grappling with acute funding crisis, with the Union Finance Ministry failing to release even half of the required funds under the Centrally sponsored scheme Project Tiger & Elephant since September 2025.

Official sources said that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had sanctioned Rs 20.70 crore under the scheme as second instalment, but it could release only a small portion of it to the park authorities till March 31, severely affecting day to day operations in the reserves.

Manas National Park required around Rs 4.87 crore, but only around Rs 50 lakh was released. Similarly, Orang National Park was sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore, but was given only Rs 16 lakh. Kaziranga required around Rs 50 crore, but was sanctioned Rs 18 crore and less than Rs 8 crore was released. Similar is the financial condition at Nameri National Park and Forest Reserve.

“There is severe shortage of funds for new work, recurring expenses and wages of casual staff,” officials at Kaziranga National Park said.

Kaziranga is a little better off because of its own revenue, but Orang and Manas are worst hit.

Outstanding fuel bills at Manas are hovering at Rs 60 lakh, and the national park authority might struggle to disburse wages of casual staff next month. Similarly, fuel bill arrears have touched Rs 15 lakh at Orang.

“Payment dues of contractors are also piling up. The authorities are also unable to take up repair works of patrol vehicles, boats and revamping of patrolling routes,” an official said.

Official sources told The Assam Tribune that despite repeated pleadings by the NTCA, the required budget is not being allocated by the Ministry of Finance.

“The funds were curtailed as pace of expenditure by tiger reserves was low due to administrative transition issues under the new SNA-SPARSH payment architecture. But Assam has performed very well in spite of that,” the sources said.

Project Tiger and Elephant saw its budget slashed 47 per cent from Rs 290 crore in the Budget Estimate (BE) 2025-2026 to just Rs 153.04 crore at the Revised Estimates stage in 2025-26.

In a report last month, a Parliamentary Standing Committee had noted reduction of funds and wanted to know the reasons for the reduction and the impact of this reduction on the activities planned under this scheme during 2025-26.

In response, the committee was informed by the Forest Ministry that the reduction was largely “procedural and transitional”.

“The migration to the SNA-SPARSH architecture led to timing mismatches in releases, reconciliation, and expenditure booking, transitional administrative complexities due to merger of Project Tiger & Elephant,” it was stated.

On the impact of the reduction on the activities under the scheme, the committee was informed that the activities like habitat restoration, conflict mitigation infrastructure were impacted.