Helicopters
Helicopters are the latest gimmick from Madhya Pradesh’s government, linking Bandhavgarh, Pench, and Kanha Tiger Reserves under the excuse of “boosting tourism.” They talk about accessibility and employment, but ignore what helicopters actually bring: noise, vibration, and disturbance in fragile habitats.
Tigers need silence and stability. Helicopters mean neither. Air blasting over forests disrupts prey, stresses mothers with cubs, and fractures the very balance conservation is supposed to protect. This is not eco-tourism. It is marketing dressed as progress.
Authorities claim modern choppers will be eco-friendly, but anyone who has stood under rotor blades knows the truth. Nothing about this belongs in tiger country. Keeping the air above tiger reserves clean and clear is as important as keeping the forest intact.
The project is sold as a path to development, but at what cost? The government is gambling with tiger survival, turning wilderness into spectacle and silence into business. Internalized conservation requires behavioral change, not helicopters.
The helicopters article:
Based on Times of India, India.
Photo via Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic.
