77 tigers go missing in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra forest department has been patting its back over the increase in the state's tiger population. The 2010 census had shown tiger numbers increasing to 169 from 103 recorded in 2006-2007. But these numbers are misleading if one considers the 2005 census which showed the presence of 268 tigers in the state's forest areas. This means the tiger population has actually declined steeply—from 268 to 169—in a span of six years. What's more, 77 of the 99 tigers which have dropped out of the list are missing from the forest records.

Forest department shocker to Mumbai suburban residents: pay more to regularise homes on forestland

Over half a million residents living in the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai have been asked to shell out extra money for regularisation of their homes on land classified as private forestland. The forest department had earlier asked them to pay at the rate of Rs 6 per sq foot (0.30 metre). But now they have been asked to pay more after the forest department increased the net present value (NPV) of the forestland. Its NPV was increased because of reclassification of the land from barren to dense forest.

Mumbai to have a flamingo sanctuary

Maharashtra forest department to go hi-tech

In a bid to make monitoring of Maharashtra's rich biodiversity efficient, the state forest department has decided to go hi-tech. The department has signed an agreement with the National Remote Sensing Agency in  Hyderabad, under which the agency will send satellite images to the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre in Nagpur. The centre will then analyse the images and forward the information to the department.