K. Rajkumar is new conservator of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

The post had been lying vacant since March this year

K. Rajkumar, Conservator of Forests and Special Secretary (Forests), Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department, Secretariat, Chennai, has been transferred and posted as Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), in Erode district.

A Government Order No. 289 dated November 28, 2022, said that the post of Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, STR, has been downgraded as Conservator of Forests and Field Director. The post has been lying vacant after Nihar Ranjan, the then Chief Conservator of Forests, was transferred in March this year. S. Ramasubramanian, Field Director, Anamalai Tiger Reserve, has been holding the additional charge of STR for eight months now.

STR, comprising Sathyamangalam and Hasanur Forest Divisions, is spread across 1,411.60 sq km and is an important link between the Nilgiris and Eastern Ghats landscape. The reserve is at the confluence of the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats and is home to several species of rare plants, animals, birds, fishes and reptiles. In 2019, STR bagged the national award for showing the highest increment in the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for registering the growth of over 30% in the population of tigers. Earlier this year, the reserve got the TX2 award after its tiger numbers doubled to 80 since 2010.