The Tribune , Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

Panchkula, June 7The Wildlife Wing of the Forest Department will be strengthened by recruiting more forest guards and providing them with better equipment to prevent poaching. This was stated by the Forests Minister, Haryana, Mr Venod Sharma, while talking to mediapersons here today. Mr Sharma was in town to preside over a meeting to assess the various projects of the Forest Department this afternoon. Answering queries about what steps are being taken to stop poaching, Mr Sharma said he was in the process of finalising a policy on strengthening the wildlife wing. This even as senior forest officials in private rued that the police had scuttled the investigations by not involving the Wildlife Department. Mr Sharma, however, did not divulge more in this connection. It may be mentioned that the Wildlife Wing of the department has a minimal strength of Wildlife Inspectors and guards. Though Haryana boasts of a forest area of almost 8 per cent of the total land and a wide variety of flora and fauna, the wildlife officials in the state are poorly equipped and in small strength. In answer to a question about the rising incidents of forest fires in Haryana and allegations regarding the fires being caused by certain individuals to finish off evidence of thefts in forests, the minister said he was not aware of any such allegations. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr J.P.L. Srivastava, added that the Forest Department had taken all precautions to control forest fires by adding custom made fire tenders. “All forest fires in the state are also reported to the Auditor General to tell him of the loss suffered by the Forest Department,” he said. Mr Sharma was later apprised of the various projects being undertaken by the department, plantation drives in the state and internationally sponsored schemes like the Haryana Community Forestry Project and the Japan Bank funded project for increasing forest cover in the state.

SOURCE : The Tribune, Wednesday, June 08, 2005