'Not disclosing information to the public indicates that there is something wrong with Project Cheetah.'
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has denied information on Project Cheetah to Right to Information and wildlife activist Ajay Dubey not once but twice.
The reason given by the forest department for rejecting Dubey's RTI plea was 'national security concerns'.
The Narendra D Modi government in 2022 launched Project Cheetah to bring back the feline after it went extinct in Independent India. The cheetahs were sourced from South Africa and Namibia and placed in the Kuno national park, Madhya Pradesh.
Unfortunately, seven out of the 20 cheetahs died in the last two years due to various factors.
Many wildlife experts had forewarned the government that importing cheetahs was not a right decision as they needed an extensive and suitable habitat, which the Kuno national park did not possess.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Ajay Dubey to find out why the government is not revealing information on the cheetahs.
What information did you seek in your RTI plea on cheetahs?
I filed the first RTI on July 2 this year about the cheetah project. At the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary in Mandsaur they are building a second sanctuary for cheetahs after Kuno. I had asked for details on how the government was going to manage the cheetah project at Mandsaur and Kuno.
Unfortunately, I got a reply from them stating that my questions cannot be answered because the answers will be a threat to national security.
The reply further said the information cannot be disclosed because our country's relations with the countries like Namibia and South Africa will come under strain if the matter is opened to the public.
What did you do after that?
I filed another RTI plea on July 24 asking them to give details on what did the cheetah project do for the development of the tribal population of Madhya Pradesh.
I further asked the status of the hospital that was supposed to be made for cheetahs.
I asked for the reports submitted by the officers of the National Tiger Conservation Authority on cheetahs to the public.
Another question I raised was the financial audit report on the money spent on cheetahs.
What was the budget? What was the expenditure on cheetahs?
Unfortunately, I did not get answers for any of the questions raised and I got the same answer, which gave the excuse of national security threat.
How many cheetahs have arrived in India so far?
There were 12 from Namibia and another eight came from South Africa. They arrived in two batches. The first came in September 2022 and the second lot came in February 2023.
How many cheetahs have survived?
There are 13 adult cheetahs that survived out of the 20 and eight cubs (were born in India).
In your opinion, why is the information on Project Cheetah being withheld from the public?
I feel the answer to this question can be traced to last year, in November, when one of the cheetahs' leg got fractured. I came to know about this in February 2024. I immediately filed an RTI plea and at that time they admitted that a cheetah’s leg was fractured.
After this news came out in public the government is keeping quiet on Project Cheetah.
I am surprised by their decision because if you compare this to Project Tiger of the Government of India, there is complete transparency and all the details are available to the public whenever queries are raised.
When you can get information on tigers why not on cheetahs? I fail to understand.
Who gave you the information that a cheetah's leg was fractured?
I am an active wildlife member in Madhya Pradesh for the last 22 years and I came to know about this news through my sources.
The government was hiding this information from the public.
Earlier, they were transparent on Project Cheetah but after the news of the cheetah's fractured leg got published in newspapers, they have gone on the back foot.
This was PM Modi's dream project and the news of the fractured leg sent a wrong message to authorities.
When they give the excuse of dent in foreign relations in answers to my RTI queries on cheetahs, I get surprised.
These cheetahs are now in India and how will it matter to countries like Namibia or South Africa if information about them comes out in the public domain?
Why will those countries be upset to get the information on cheetahs?
I am unable to come to terms with this answer.
What more do you feel could be the reason for denying the information on cheetahs?
Probably the health of the cheetahs is not good.
Probably, there is financial mismanagement going on in Kuno.
Probably, the government officers are scared to reveal the information.
What is the total cost of Project Cheetah?
The government is not revealing the cost of Project Cheetah.
We are asking questions after questions and the government has done the audit report too on Project Cheetah. But still, they are not revealing the information.
It means there is something wrong going on.
Did they specify what kind of national security threat?
We are an independent country since 1947 and surprisingly, in their reply they say revealing RTI information on cheetahs is a national security threat.
Burden of proof is on the government and, I guess, if there is corruption and incompetence then they hide things by giving the excuse of security threat.
Is Project Cheetah being mismanaged, you feel?
Yes, it seems so.
Lack of evidence and not disclosing information to the public indicates that there is something wrong with the cheetah project.
Officers are involved in corruption. They have kept cheetahs in enclosures instead of allowing them to move in free wild range.
Closed enclosures?
Yes, the cheetahs have been kept in closed enclosures and this was not the aim of the cheetah project. The intention was to bring these cheetahs free in the national park range.
Is the public allowed to see the cheetahs?
No, I have not heard of any common man seeing these cheetahs which came from Namibia and South Africa.
I too have never seen these cheetahs. Only (forest) officers see the cheetahs and not the public.
No one from the public has seen cheetahs in the last one year.
Are you saying that no one from the public has seen these cheetahs which were brought from Namibia and South Africa?
No one has seen these cheetahs because they are in captive breeding. Their movement is restricted to the enclosures.
In the last one year, no common man has seen these cheetahs.
What about tourists? Do they see them?
I have not heard of or met any tourist who has seen the cheetahs.
Therefore, I am saying, there has to be a public audit of Project Cheetah. There has to be transparency.
Any guess on how much money must have been spent on Project Cheetah?
It runs into crores and my rough estimate is that it could be around Rs 25 crores (Rs 250 million) in the last two years.
What is your next step?
I will keep filing more RTIs and go to court.
As a taxpayer I have a right to know about the cheetah project.
Namibia and South Africa have no right to tell the Indian public or decide whether we can see the cheetahs or not if it is spent from Indian taxpayer's money.
