GUWAHATI, Feb 8– The State Government and its Forest Department has come under criticism from Nature’s Beckon, “an environment activist group,” which has alleged that the Department has been “misleading the public about the Kaziranga centenary celebration, because in reality conservation efforts in Kaziranga did not begin in 1905.”
What the British administration did was to start thinking about protecting the ‘game’ of Kaziranga, so that they could continue hunting and killing rhinos, said Soumyadeep Datta, the director of Nature’s Beckon, in a press conference today. The centenary of Kaziranga could only take place in the year 2040, hundred years after it was declared a sanctuary, he claimed. To highlight their protest against the Forest Department’s activities, members of the environment group also put on black masks for some moments.
Condemning the Forest department for “torturing elephants” while preparing them for some events in the forthcoming Kaziranga centenary celebration, the group asserted that an ex-gratia amount of Rs 1 lakh should be made immediately available to Babul Baruah, who was killed by an elephant in Kaziranga recently.Datta mentioned that illegal encroachment, poaching, dearth of forest personnel, pollution, illegal fishing were continuing unabated in various protected areas of the State, while the Forest Department was preparing to celebrate the Kaziranga centenary.
Holding the Government squarely responsible for its failure to protect wildlife habitats like Manas, Laokhowa, Dibru Saikhowa, and Nameri, Datta said that the wrong approaches of the Forest department had threatened the entire wildlife of the State.“While we clearly favour strong protection measures for wildlife, we oppose any effort by the Forest department and the Government to hoodwink the people,” remarked Datta, who added that the Kaziranga celebration exposed “the camouflaging attitude” of the authorities.
When asked if he considered Kaziranga to be conservation success, Datta, however, was far less strident in his reply, and said, “the time had not yet arrived to comment on the issue.”The director, who said that the approach of the Forest department was flawed, could not describe the flaws when asked to do so. That wildlife has been disturbed by the preparations for the Kaziranga centenary celebration was cited as the lone flaw.
Speaking at the press conference, Pulin Gogoi, representing local tour operators of Kaziranga said that it was important to stop the disturbance currently being created in an area close to the National Park where preparations of the celebration are under way.Narrating his experiences, he commented that the movement of diesel vehicles has contributed to pollution inside the Park, and there was a need to put an immediate curb on those polluting vehicles.
He reasoned that the Kaziranga centenary celebration should not overlook the interest of the local people because they had sacrificed a great deal for the conservation of the wildlife of Kaziranga.
