Aizawl, Nov 15 (IANS): The Mizoram government has undertaken a Rs 14 crore project to further protect the state's Dampa Tiger Reserve, Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla has said.

Addressing a meeting of legislators on Tuesday, Thanhawla said the National Tiger Conservation Authority had given Rs 13.54 crore for the Dampa project, an official from the Chief Minister's Secretariat said on Wednesday.

Thanhawla, who holds the Environment, Forests and Climate Change Department, said that according to the indirect scientific analysis conducted by the Guwahati-based NGO "Aranyak", there were three to four tigers in the Dampa Reserve, situated along the Bangladesh-Tripura border in western Mizoram.

A Forest and Wildlife official of Mizoram said that of the 50 tiger reserves across the country, eight were in three northeastern states.

Four of these were in Assam (Manas, Nameri, Orang and Kaziranga) followed by three in Arunachal Pradesh (Namdapha, Kamlang and Pakke) and one in Mizoram.