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MUMBAI:
People gathered in large numbers, across the country to support
NDTV and Sanctuary Asia Magazines mass campaign - 'Save the Tiger'.
The campaign, which started a fortnight back to stop the alarming
decline in the number of tigers in India, culminated in a nationwide
signature campaign yesterday. The campaign received extremely favourable
responses with over 4,80,000 signatures, sms and online petitions
from major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Dehradun, Srinagar, Lucknow, Jaipur,
Guwahati, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Patna and Ahmedabad.
 'Save
the Tiger' campaign urges the Prime Minister to hold an emergency
meeting of the National Board for Wildlife to consider the threat
to the tiger; Chief ministers of every State to establish a protection
force for tigers; up gradation of forest guards to the level of
police with better compensation; and setting up of an improved intelligence
network that is critical to crack poaching.
The
campaign received overwhelming response from school children across
the country apart from eminent personalities like Gautam Singhania,
Chairman & MD, Raymond; Milind Soman, supermodel and Bollywood
actor; Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister, Delhi; Ajay Jadeja, former
Indian cricketer; Tarun Gogoi, Chief Minister, Assam; B C Khanduri,
Chief Minister, Uttarakhand; Quizmaster Derek O Brien; Aparna Sen,
feminist activist and film maker; Actor Khushboo; Charu Sharma,
Cricket Commentator amongst others.
 On
the solution to the decline in the tiger numbers, National Wildlife
Board Member, Valmik Thapar, said, "Like the PM needs Black
Cat commandoes for his protection, if the tiger has to live, it
needs a protection group for it to make it safe."
Appreciating
the public's response to the campaign, Bittu Sehgal, Editor, Sanctuary
Magazine said, "It is really a great occasion where so many
people have come forward to sign in favour of this campaign. We
actually want to convey the message across to the PM that we want
the tiger to be saved across the nation as it is a sense of what
India is".
Apart
from nationwide public support, the campaign was also backed by
other celebrities, well-known environmentalists and NGOs. Bollywood
stars Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor,
Preity Zinta and Farhan Akhtar, Sportsmen Rahul Dravid and Rajyavardhan
Rathore came out to support this movement.
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