India, Sept. 2 -- Madhya Pradesh has suspended a proposed 17,000 square km cheetah corridor project covering 10 districts of the state and seven in Rajasthan until the cheetah population increases at Kuno National Park (KNP) and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, officials aware of the matter said.

In November last year, the Cheetah Project Steering Committee and the two state governments discussed the corridor for cheetahs to roam freely to develop their territories. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and his Rajasthan counterpart, Bhajan Lal Sharma, also deliberated over the issue.

India launched the cheetah reintroduction project in September 2022, years after the species was declared extinct in the country in 1947. Twenty cheet...