GUWAHATI, March 8 – As many as 104 rhinos died in the Kaziranga National Park last year, of which, 100 died natural death and four were killed by poachers. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Forest, Pradyut Bordoloi in a written reply to a question by Pabindra Deka in the State Assembly today. Bordoloi revealed that 66 rhinos died in the National Park in 2003, of which 63 died natural death and three were killed by poachers, while, 62 died natural death and four were killed by poachers in the previous year.
In reply to another question by Dilip Kumar Saikia (AGP), the Minister informed the House that of the total area of 859.49 square kilometers of the National Park, more than 815 square kilometers is flood affected. He also said that 7440 hectares of the total area of the Park is under the grip of the encroachers. He also said that the Park has 1552 rhinos, 86 tigers, 1048 elephants, 468 swamp deer, 1431 wild buffalos, 58 sambers, 5045 hog deer, 431 wild boar, 139 capped langurs and 47 gibbons.
Giving an account of the steps taken to check poaching of animals in the park, Bordoloi said that intensive patrolling by special anti-poaching task force staff is on both inside and outside the park and communication network has been improved by connecting almost all the camps through wireless. Information gathering and intelligence network have been strengthened and the infrastructure within the park area has been improved. Several projects for the socio-economic development of the fringe villages have been initiated and steps have been taken to create awareness among the people of the villages for protection of wild life.
In reply to a question by Gunin Hazarika (AGP), the Forest Minister said that more than 61,600 tourists including 3772 foreign tourists visited the National Park in the year 2003-04, while, 6,466 including 2055 foreign tourists visited the park in the previous year.
College teachers: The Higher Education Minister, Dr Bhumidhar Barman today informed the State Assembly that the Government has initiated steps completing all the formalities to provide pension to college teachers by August. In response to Zero Hour questions, the Minister said that a committee has been formed to settle all related matters as the demands of different associations of college teachers are different. He said that the Government would require the cooperation of all sections of college teachers for successfully implementing the pension scheme. He also informed the House that the Government has taken steps to encourage quality education and already special grants have been given to the schools showing good results.
Earlier, raising the issue, Dr Idris Ali (Cong), Paniram Rabha (Cong), Sarbananda Choudhury (Cong) and Gunin Hazarika (AGP) demanded that the Government should immediately introduce pension scheme for college teachers.
