The Rajasthan Government's suspension of the State's Chief Wildlife Warden, Mr Arun Sen, and seven other employees of its forest department for serious lapses in the management of Project Tiger sanctuaries in Sariska and Ranthambore respectively, is a small step in the right direction. That there have been serious lapses is evident from the fact-confirmed by an investigating team of the CBI-that no tiger has been sighted in Sariska since July last year, and that there are unmistakable indications of a decline in Ranthambore's tiger population.
Mr Sen, whom Rajasthan's Forest Minister Laxmi Narain Dave, accused of ignoring directions given by the Government and failing to take his responsibilities seriously, must certainly take much of the blame for what the Minister has described as "the total collapse of the administrative machinery" in Sariska, making for the disappearance of the tigers there. It is this collapse that enabled poachers, linked to the mafia trading in tiger organs, bones and skins, to have virtually a free run of the sanctuary including its core area.
As Mr Dave pointed out, it is poaching that accounts for both for the disappearance of tigers from Sariska and the steep fall in their population elsewhere. His figures-534 tigers killed by poachers in 27 sanctuaries since 1988-however, appear to reflect under-estimation when one considers the sharp decline that has occurred in the number of tigers in the country. An all India census in 1993 put the number of tigers in the Project Tiger reserves spread over 33,000 square kilometres all over the country, at 3,750. Optimistic current estimates put it at 3,000 while pessimistic figures put it around 1,000. As is clear from the above, most tiger reserves in the country are in a sad way. By all accounts, the Palamau Tiger Reserve in Jharkhand has gone the Sariska way. Reports from Panna and Bandhavgarh sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh make grim reading.
Clearly, a massive anti-poaching drive has to be undertaken. Since physical prevention of poaching is not easy, the crime needs to be tackled at the level of the mafia trading in animal parts and skins, that sustains it. The decision to set up a National Wildlife Crime Bureau, taken by the National Board for Wildlife at its meeting on March 17, needs to be urgently implemented, as must be the proposal to set up a Wildlife Trade Control Bureau gathering dust since it was made some years ago. Simultaneously, both the Central and State Governments have to address the fact that forest officers and guards lack proper vehicles, arms and statutory authority to deal with poachers. Here, special emphasis should be put on protecting the reserves where tigers are endangered. In this context, encroachment on sanctuaries in the name of development-such as what has occurred at Melaghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra-has to be severely discouraged, and the question of allowing neighbouring villagers access into sanctuaries to secure firewood and so on, must be reconsidered. They are often hand-in-glove with poachers.
