MP: Indian Oil contributes Rs 50 Crores for training "Cheetah Mitra" in state

Sheopur (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 18 (ANI): Indian Oil Corporation on Saturday said that it had contributed over Rs 50 crores as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund for the habilitation, preservation and training of "Cheetah Mitra" in the state.
"Being a responsible company we have contributed over Rs 50 crores as a CSR fund. National Tiger Conservation Authority also helped, our funds will be used by them for the habilitation, preservation and training of Cheetah Mitra," said Deepak K Basu, Executive Director, Indian Oil while talking to ANI.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday released 12 cheetahs, imported from South Africa, in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to conserve the environment is showing a path to the world.
He said, "Madhya Pradesh has got a gift on Mahashivratri. I thank PM Modi from the bottom of my heart, it is his vision. Twelve Cheetahs will be rehabilitated to Kuno and the total number will become 20. The Cheetahs that had come earlier have now adapted to the situation very well."
Earlier today, Indian Air Force's Mi-17 helicopters carrying the second batch of 12 Cheetah landed at their destination.
The big cats made their journey in Indian Air Force's (IAF) C-17 Globemaster cargo plane.
The aircraft after a 10-hour long flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, landed at Air Force Station Gwalior today.
Last year in September, eight cheetahs from Namibia were flown into India.
The cheetahs are being brought to India as part of the Cheetah Reintroduction project on the basis of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the South African and the Indian governments.
The MoU facilitates cooperation between the two countries to establish a viable and secure cheetah population in India; promotes conservation and ensures that expertise is shared and exchanged, and capacity is built, to promote cheetah conservation. This includes human-wildlife conflict resolution, capture and translocation of wildlife and community participation in conservation in the two countries. (ANI)