NAGPUR: The indefinite fast launched by wildlife activist Bandu Dhotre to save tigers entered the second day and is gaining wide support from NGOs and political leaders. On Tuesday, Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, Friends of Tiger Country Central India (FTCCI), Greenpeace and India Against Corruption (IAC) announced their support to the issues raised by Dhotre. Plans are now afoot to bring chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to the pandal site when he will be in the city to review various projects. The IAC volunteers took out a rally from Law College Square to declare support to Dhotre's fast. "It is indeed a matter of shame that Dhotre has to resort to a fast to draw attention and get some action from the state government to save tigers," said Devendra Parekh, president, VED. Incidents of tiger poaching in the buffer zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) led seemingly shocked forest minister Patangrao Kadam to issue 'shoot-at-sight' orders but such reactions and emotional outbursts yield no comprehensive results as the follow up is extremely poor, he added. "The need of the hour is a comprehensive policy initiatives that will ensure protection of tigers vis-a-vis their habitat for all times to come," said Parekh. On Tuesday, as Dhotre's fast entered the second day, several local leaders including Shiv Sena MLA from Ramtek Ashish Jaiswal and Nationalist Youth Congress leader Salil Deshmukh visited Dhotre to express solidarity. Deshmukh said his NGO Koshish fully supports Dhotre. Several forest officials from Chandrapur including TATR field director Virendra Tiwari and deputy conservators (DyCFs) M M Kulkarni and P Kalyan Kumar also visited the pandal opposite PWD Sankul in Civil Lines, where Dhotre is fasting. According to sources, forest officials are discussing the 16 demands raised by Dhotre. Of these, several demands like rescue centre at Chandrapur, secret funds, appointing van patils, reorganizing forest beats, restricting resorts near tiger reserves etc have already been accepted but no action has been taken on them. VED and FTsaid the government was aware of all the studied observations on the tiger situation at ground level and needed to take drastic changes at the policy level. While TATR is one of the best tiger reserves in India, it might lose the coveted status if the tiger protection perspective and action remained flawed. It is not appreciated that tigers in Chandrapur face grave danger because most of the core area outside TATR is under the control of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) for whom tiger protection is not the priority. "The remedy therefore is to treat the area adjoining TATR at par with the tiger reserve," said Parekh. VED appealed to the forest minister Kadam and forest secretary Praveen Pardeshi to convene a meeting on Dhotre's demands and give a written commitment and time-bound action plan.