Then known as the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary, the 79.80 sqkm park, was declared a national park in 1999, but strangely it has not got attention as it deserved being a national park thus bringing untold miseries not only for the skeleton staff but for the hapless animals.

The number of rhinos dwindled alarmingly from 97 in 1991 to 46 in 1999 when the last census was held and tigers from 28 in 1997 to only 19 in 2000. "There is no buffer zone in the park and the only core zone suffers maximum public intereference making it impossible for the authorities to manage," says M Momin, divisional forest officer of Mangaldoi wildlife division. Painting a gloomy picture, the DFP says there are 31 anti-poaching camps inside the park and only 60 guards.