Jairam is like the tiger, says Khursheed

New Delhi: What is common between tiger and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh? Minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed on Monday lightheartedly said both are ferocious and near extinction.

Speaking at the release of Tiger Estimate 2010 in the capital, Water Resources and Corporate Affairs Minister Khursheed called Ramesh the 'tiger minister'.

'Both of them have similarities. He has features of a tiger ... if you don't treat them well, they become man-eaters and on the other side, they are near extinction,' Khursheed said as Ramesh smiled.

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Khursheed said like for the tiger 'we (Congress party) use camera trapping and pug mark analysis to keep track of Ramesh'.

Ramesh said he had called Khursheed for the release of the Tiger Census as he is the water resources minister and several upcoming irrigation projects are posing a threat to the environment.

'We are embarking on an irrigation project in Jharkhand which will destroy the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar. We are looking at the interlinking of Ken-Betwa rivers and it will completely submerge the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh,' Ramesh said.

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'Similarly, large irrigation projects are coming up in Himachal Pradesh and these will affect the environment. These are some of the development threats we face.'

The census recorded an increase in tiger figures to 1,706 in 2010, compared to 1,411 in 2006.