GUWAHATI: The Assam government has set up 152 forest camps inside the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) to increase protection for the highly endangered Great Indian One-horned Rhinoceros and other animals there from poachers.
The camps set up recently will be manned by about six guards each armed with .303 and .305 rifles besides vigilance arrangements on elephant and on foot, forest department sources said.
Apart from forest guards, 170 armed security guards have also been deployed inside the World Heritage Site park along with personnel from the Assam Forest Protection Force.
The state home department had provided 200 additional .303 rifles, while permission has been granted for providing the guards with sophisticated weapons like AK-47 assault rifles to fight the poachers, who often have state-of-the-art firepower to target the animals, the sources said.
Four engine boat-cum-floating camps have also been provided for vigilance along the Brahmaputra river which passes through the KNP.
Meanwhile, vacant posts have been filled up in the Park - habitat of the rhinos. The fresh recruits include 117 forest guards, 34 foresters, eight mahouts, two boatmen and 35 `ghasis' (elephant grass cutters), the sources said.
Committees such as Prevention of Rhino Poaching and Wildlife Crime Control of Golaghat and Sonitpur have been formed to boost conservation measures, the sources added.
