The Government on Monday blamed the shortage of adequate manpower for the inaction against poachers of endangered species of wildlife and admitted it has to depend on States for the job. This is despite that CBI has been empowered to apprehend and prosecute wildlife offenders.
“Unfortunately, there is a major problem of shortage of manpower. And we have only five officers present at the national-level, in the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. This is an unfortunate situation which I concede. We depend on the State Governments and Wildlife Protection Forces at the State-level…” Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told the Lok Sabha.
Responding to a query on total numbers of Rhinoceros and cases of their death, she said no case of poaching of rhinoceros and lions had been reported but there were five such cases of tiger poaching in the recent past.
“The CBI has been empowered to apprehend and prosecute; the State Governments have been requested to strengthen the field formations and intensify patrolling in and around the protected areas; the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been set up to control poaching; and strict vigil is maintained through an extensive communication system,” she said in her reply.
Other measures undertaken by the Government include legal protection to wild animals and plants against hunting and commercial exploitation under the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, forfeiture of any equipment, vehicle or weapon that is used for committing wildlife offence and schemes like project tiger and project elephant.
