Poaching is rampant in Maharashtra, UP: Centre. ...from the pages of TIMES of INDIA

Echoing the concern expressed by PM Manmohan Singh and the Supreme Court on missing tigers, the Centre's affidavit before the SC said poaching was rampant particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, accounting for 24 and 23 killings respectively. Thirteen tigers were killed in MP - home to Kanha, Panna, Pench, Satpura and Bandhavgarh reserves - during the same period, the affidavit said.

It said only 59 tigers died a natural death in the five-year period between 1999 and 2003 and only the states of Madhya Pradesh (15), Uttar Pradesh (12) and Uttaranchal (10) reported double-digit mortality figure. From the 238 seizures in 211 cases, Madhya Pradesh topped the list with 57 cases, followed by UP (44), West Bengal (39), Maharashtra (19), Uttaranchal (15) and Andhra Pradesh (11). "The international border of India with Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar is relatively porous. It facilitates illegal transfer of contraband," government said.

The steering committee of Project Tiger in its meeting listed the tiger reserves in Uttaranchal (Corbett and Rajaji National Park), UP (Dudhwa), MP (Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench and Panna), Maharashtra (Tadoba, Pench and Melghat), West Bengal (Sunderbans), Assam (Kaziranga), Tamil Nadu (Mudumalai), Karnataka (Ban-dipur and Nagarhole) and Rajasthan (Ranthambore)