Porbandar, Gujarat | October 3, 2026
The Gujarat government has undertaken a major restructuring of the Porbandar Forest Division, strengthening its administrative and field-level machinery as the Barda landscape develops into an important additional home for the Asiatic lion.
The move follows the natural return of lions to Barda after about 143 years. Rather than being solely a planned relocation site, Barda is already witnessing lions recolonising the landscape naturally, prompting the state to strengthen conservation management around their emerging population.
Barda’s Lions Are No Longer Just Visitors
For decades, the surviving population of the Asiatic lion was overwhelmingly associated with Gir and the Greater Gir landscape.
That geography is changing.
Barda, situated in the Porbandar-Devbhumi Dwarka region, has emerged as a new satellite lion population. The 2025 Gujarat lion estimation recorded 17 lions in the Barda population, while the statewide Asiatic lion population was put at 891.
The significance is considerable: establishing another viable population away from the traditional Gir stronghold can broaden the species’ occupied landscape and reduce its concentration in one region.
Seven Forest Ranges Under New Structure
Under the restructuring, the Porbandar Forest Division will now comprise seven ranges.
The reorganised Porbandar Range covers 6,840.84 hectares across 80 villages, with beats including Porbandar City, Gosabara, Moker, Visavada, Kantela, Madhavpur and Satiya.
The Ranavav Range covers another 13,051.25 hectares across 27 villages.
The government has also transferred 305.94 hectares from the RFW Bhatia Range of Jamnagar Forest Division to the Bhanvad Range under Porbandar. The transferred forests extend across four villages in Bhanvad taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district.
The Kutiyana Range and the Porbandar and Ranavav Social Forestry ranges have also been brought under the Porbandar Forest Division.
More Officers and Equipment for Lion Country
The restructuring goes beyond changing boundaries on a map.
Two Assistant Conservators of Forests will oversee different groups of ranges, while staff responsibilities are being reorganised and field resources redistributed.
Vehicles, wireless equipment, walkie-talkies, records and other departmental resources are also being reassigned under the new system. A mobile squad will form part of the revamped administrative structure.
The objective is to give forest personnel clearer territorial responsibility and enable quicker responses to wildlife and conservation issues.
This becomes particularly important as lions establish territories in landscapes containing villages, livestock, agricultural land and roads.
Why Barda Matters to the Future of the Asiatic Lion
Barda Wildlife Sanctuary covers about 192 sq km and is increasingly being developed as a second major habitat for Asiatic lions.
Its importance is not simply that it provides additional space.
For a lion population to become established, the landscape needs adequate prey, water, secure habitat, effective protection and room for animals to disperse.
Gujarat has consequently been working on improving Barda’s habitat and prey base. Spotted deer and sambar have been moved into the sanctuary as part of prey-base augmentation efforts.
The presence of lions that have returned naturally, rather than depending entirely upon animals being translocated from Gir, provides encouraging evidence that Barda retains ecological conditions attractive to the species.
A New Challenge: Living With Lions
The expansion also brings a familiar conservation challenge.
As lions spread outside conventional protected areas, they increasingly share landscapes with people.
That means conservation cannot end at the sanctuary boundary. Forest officials will have to monitor lion movements, respond rapidly when animals approach settlements, protect livestock where possible and maintain public confidence among communities living alongside the cats.
The restructuring of the Porbandar Forest Division therefore has significance beyond administrative efficiency.
It effectively creates a stronger wildlife-management network around an expanding lion landscape.
Maldhari Relocation Plan Announced
Another major development has followed.
On October 2, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel announced a voluntary relocation scheme for eligible Maldhari pastoralist families living within Barda Wildlife Sanctuary.
Eligible families opting for relocation are to receive ₹15 lakh per family, along with provisions concerning residential land outside the sanctuary and its Eco-Sensitive Zone.
The government argues that voluntary relocation could reduce human pressure within parts of the sanctuary and make more habitat available to wildlife.
Such programmes, however, need careful implementation to ensure that relocation is genuinely voluntary and that communities whose livelihoods have long been associated with the landscape receive appropriate support.
From Gir to a Wider Lion Landscape
The Asiatic lion’s recovery is one of India’s major conservation successes, but that success is changing the nature of the challenge.
The question is no longer simply how to prevent the species from disappearing.
It is increasingly about how to manage a growing lion population spreading into new landscapes while protecting both wildlife and people.
Barda represents perhaps the clearest example of this transition.
After an absence of roughly 143 years, lions have returned. Gujarat is now reorganising the forest administration around them, strengthening field protection and preparing the landscape for a larger population.
If Barda’s emerging population becomes secure and eventually self-sustaining, the sanctuary could become far more than an overflow habitat for Gir.
It could mark the beginning of a new chapter in Asiatic lion conservation — one in which the species once again occupies multiple strongholds across western India.
Source: Awaz-The Voice, ANI and Gujarat government information, with additional reporting from The New Indian Express, The Times of India and The Indian Express.
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