Ahmedabad, June 10 -- Seven present and former members of Gujarat's State Board of Wildlife have submitted a representation to the state and central governments requesting a review ofa series of permissions and a proposed forest land diversion that they claim could threaten the Asiatic lion habitat in and around the Gir landscape.

In a representation, the wildlife experts alleged that mining, resort-related development and the re-entry of Maldhari families into protected areas could adversely affect lion corridors and wildlife conservation efforts in the region.

The representation said that a proposal to divert 75 hectares of the Babarkot Reserve Forest near Rajula under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) for mining purposes poses a thre...