Hindustan Times , Thursday, May 19, 2005

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

The Centre is not inclined at present to initiate a CBI probe into the rapidly vanishing tiger population in the Project Tiger reserves and national parks allegedly due to poaching and mismanagement by the forest staff.This was stated by the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) in an affidavit filed in response to a notice by the Supreme Court on an application seeking to extend the probe by CBI into Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary to other sanctuaries and tiger reserves across the country. The probe revealed that there were no tigers in the sanctuary in Rajasthan.The magnitude of the problem came to the fore with the ministry admitting that as many as 122 tigers were poached and 238 cases of seizure of tiger skins and bones were reported in the five years between 1999-2003. Only 62 tigers died their natural death.Despite the hue and cry over the issue, the Centre feels that the Task Force of independent experts headed by Sunita Narain should be allowed to complete its task before any other agency was asked to investigate into it."The MoEF has constituted a panel of experts to monitor the tiger reserves on a set of criteria, based on the framework of the World Commission on Protected areas," the affidavit said."The monitoring work is nearing completion and the reports would provide a dispassionate appraisal of site specific problems, which may form the basis for taking up any investigation by an agency like CBI, if necessary," it added.

SOURCE : Hindustan Times, Thursday, May 19, 2005