Manas still reeling under myriad problems

The Assam Tribune , Monday, August 02, 2010
Correspondent : Sivasish thakur
GUWAHATI, Aug 1 – Notwithstanding some improvements made in the past few years,Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve – said to be India’s “zoologically, biologically and scenically” finest protected area – continues to languish in a quagmire of ills.

Lack of trained personnel, especially frontline staff, has been a major problem with insufficient arms being another irritant. Manas authorities, however, claim that the position vis-à-vis equipment has improved of late.

“There have been new procurement of rifles and the vacant posts are also being filled up…training though remains a problem area. We have always been insisting that pre-service training should precede posting,” a forest official said, adding that a batch of field staff was set to undergo a three-month training.

Abysmal security had been the single-most important factor behind the wanton decimation of wildlife in Manas where several species, including the rhino, were virtually wiped out in the past.

A recent audit report tabled in Parliament had revealed that Manas did not providetraining to their staff on a regular or periodic basis. The Public Accounts Committee audit noted that forest guards were not equipped with enough arms and ammunition required to combat poaching and illicit wildlife trade in Manas along with 11 other tiger reserves.

In Manas, it said, the training imparted to staff was inadequate as it did not cover the areas of field craft, obstacle-crossing and unarmed combat.

The failure to restore the road network within the park constitutes another area of concern. This has effectively hampered round-the-clock patrolling, and the World Heritage Committee had strongly recommended rebuilding of the lost road network.

“We know roads are critical to patrolling but with the arrival of the early monsoons the job can start only in the coming winter,” the official said, adding that almost all the camps lost during the troubled 1990s had been restored.

Another concern yet to be addressed is the access allowed to the Mathanguri-Bansbari road for vehicular traffic, including heavy vehicles, from Bhutan. Perhaps no othernational park in the country has a road right through it plying commercial vehicles. WhileManas authorities acknowledge the gravity of the situation, they feel that the matter needs to be taken up at the highest level as it is a bilateral matter between two countries. “Constant plying of vehicles is damaging to the park’s environment and we think the State Government should press the Centre for an alternative route with Bhutan,” the official said.

Lack of baseline data for animals – something persistently recommended by the UNESCO/IUCN heritage committee – is another drawback that has come in the way ofthe park getting back the coveted World Heritage Site status. A baseline survey is imperative for documenting the possible recovery of the populations of key wildlife species.

“We are trying to conduct the necessary surveys for different animals, and the second phase of the tiger census should be out by end of this year,” he said.

Terming animal sightings in the current tourist season as impressive, the official said that apparently some species such as buffalo and gaur were making a quick recovery. The committee in last year’s report had criticized some of the existing data as not showing positive trends and “even seem to rather confirm that the wildlife did not yet recover from the past period characterized by rampant poaching.”

On the positive side, the decks have been cleared for relocating 912 families from insidethe park. “The relocation exercise is to be done in a phased manner and the Centrally-funded compensatory financial package has been worked out,” the official said. The families currently inhabiting the Panbari range are to be resettled outside the 2,837-sq km Manas Tiger Reserve of which Manas National Park (519 sq km) is the core area.

The delay in release of central funds, too, should ease now with the change in funding, which is to come directly from the Bodoland Territorial Council rather than channelized through the State Government. “This should ensure timely utilization of funds,” theofficial said. The heritage committee had earlier pulled up the State Government for its failure to release funds sanctioned by the Centre under Project Elephant, Project Tigerand Biosphere Reserve for the Park on time, terming it as “a serious setback.”

 
SOURCE : http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=aug0210/at097
 


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