GANDHINAGAR,MARCH 12: Two incidents at Gir lion sanctuary — the poaching of three lions last week, and the death of two cubs who fell into a well after a chase — might just be symptoms of an ailment that has been in the making for over a decade now. With no proper recruitments since 1992, the average age of a beat guard in the forests of Junagadh circle that houses the Gir sanctuary is 40 years plus.
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The result of a 15-year moratorium on new recruitments at the cutting edge level, the inertia of higher ups in the administration has been sapping the Forest Department of energies so much required for guarding vast forests
on foot.
The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that in some ranges there is not a single beat guard below the age of 25. “This is the cadre which is supposed to keep tabs on the goings on inside the forests with an area of about 700 hectares, sometimes criss-crossing 15-20 villages. This effectively means running up to 12 kms in a single day if a beat is to be serviced properly,” informs H M Rabari, a leader of Beat Guards Association fighting a case against the government. He has been a beat guard for the last 27 years with no promotions.
In 2003, 27 contract labourers were inducted as beat guards by the Department. That was the last time fresh blood got infused into the system. As per Forest Department guidelines, for a well-managed forest area about 50 per cent of the total strength should be below 35-years. In Gujarat’s forests, more than 90 per cent of staff is above that mark.
“We have sent many reports to higher ups, but a concrete action has not materialized. If properly involved the staff just could not have missed the roars of lions being trapped and poached. A lion’s distress sound can be heard for kms in the silence of forests,” says a Conservator of Forests.
So was the distress call of three lionesses missed because there was no one
to listen? Ranges lie vacant for months as some go on leave, some are transferred and others just run away from depression. Many have taken premature retirement rather than face the rigours of the job. Senior officers claim the situation is not going to continue for long.