Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju yesterday said it was hard to control tiger poachers and traffickers because they were socially influential and got political shelter.

He also said an allocation of Tk 100 crore was too inadequate to protect the Sundarbans.

The minister made the comments at a workshop titled "Monitoring Tigers, Prey and their Habitats in the Sundarbans", in the auditorium of the Forest Department.

The department and the World Bank jointly organised it.

Referring to the 2015 survey, Manju said, "We thought there were 440 tigers in the Sundarbans (according to the 2004 pugmark study), but the camera trapping survey showed it is 106."

Dr Kamaluddin Ahmed, secretary to the ministry, said they would have to find the reasons behind the decrease in the tiger population.

Dr YV Jhala, senior professor of the Wildlife Institute of India, who is a consultant to the Sundarbans tiger project, said the number of tigers could be increased but it was not possible to introduce tigers in the Sundarbans from outside.

"So it is necessary to remain careful so that the tiger population does not shrink further."

He said tigers should get the environment to move freely in the Sundarbans to increase their number.

Md Yunus Ali, the chief conservator of forest, said the Forest Department alone could not check traffickers and it needed support of the law enforcement agencies.

But, he said, the law enforcement agencies lacked coordination.