Industry's initiative

-- Can the country's top business groups utilise their corporate skills to manage national parks? They can, believe the Kotharis and Piramals. The two have jointly established the first corporate wildlife fund of India. The ambitious initiative envisages the setting up of a Wildlife Conservation Trust which will get patronage from industry moguls. For a start, the trust would adopt the Sanjay Gandhi National Park at Borivli in Mumbai and the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

Apart from the financial prop, the companies plan to provide security staff to the national parks to reduce poaching, facilitate rehabilitation of villages, giving impetus to ecotourism and management of watersheds in the reserves.