MP makes extra buck as filmmakers eye state's tiger reserves

Movie makers from India and abroad are focusing their lens on tiger habitats in Madhya Pradesh to showcase its rich wildlife and simultaneously helping the state government to earn an extra income.
As many as 47 such permissions were granted to Indians and foreigners for their photography and filming assignments in Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh tiger reserve alone between October and December last year.
An amount of about Rs 36 lakh was received by the government exchequer in this regard, according to official documents.
Seven such permissions were also given for filming in Pench Tiger Reserve, Seoni, between 2010-11. An amount of about Rs six lakh was received by the Madhya Pradesh government, they said.

Six tiger reserves in MP -- Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Panna, Satpura, Sanjay and Pench -- are home to 257 big cats.
There were four permissions given between 2009-12 for shooting in Satpura tiger reserve in Hoshangabad. Various producers had paid Rs nine lakh to the government, according to the documents, received in response to an RTI query filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey.

Of this, the highest amount paid was Rs eight lakh by Sudheer Bhai Mishra, production controller at Prakash Jha Productions of Mumbai for shooting in May 2012. A DVD or VCD of the film has not been made available to the authorities, the RTI document said.

According to rules, a copy of finished film should be provided free of cost by producers to the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the state government concerned.
"There are other producers who are frequently filming in Madhya Pradesh forests after taking due permission. Most of them are not depositing CDs to the state government. Government must ensure that such CDs are submitted with the government," claimed Dubey.