Madhya Pradesh high court has issued notices to Madhya Pradesh government¸ National Tiger Conservation authority (NTCA) and ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on why Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) was not being constituted and commissioned in MP for protection of tigers, which are getting killed due to unnatural reasons like electrocution and poisoning in recent years. The court has asked the respondents to reply to the notice by November 26.
A division bench of MP high court presided by chief justice AM Khanvilkar and justice SS Kemkar issued notices to the parties concerned on Tuesday. The copies of the notices were made available on Wednesday.
Ajay Dubey, a wildlife activist, has challenged why MP government is delaying constituting STPF and not taking security measures for checking their unnatural deaths, despite it committing for constituting the protection force through a tripartite agreement with Centre in 2010.
Dubey said the NTCA had issued various guidelines and directives for constitution of STPF on a priority and urgent basis. "According to the rules that have been framed in the context of tiger protection in the country and recommendations of NTCA and MoEF are mandatory for the state governments to follow," he said.
The activist said after he obtained information about tiger deaths and their reasons for last 2-3 years, it became clear that poaching through poisoning or electrocution was emerging as a major trend for tiger deaths in MP.
He added that even NTCA report on tiger deaths in Bandhavgarh had stressed on the "urgent need of complete revamp in the existing patrolling and monitoring system."
Dubey said last year, two persons, part of a well-knit poaching gang, had hunted two bears in Mandla district. They were arrested by Maharashtra forest officials and put in Nagpur jail.
"During subsequent investigation, it came to light that these hunters were primarily into poaching of tigers around Kanha Tiger Reserve in MP. It is also being revealed that they had poached a few tigers here (in MP). We demand that narco test of the duo be conducted so that it becomes clear how many tigers they have killed in MP," said Dubey.
"It is clear that both the Central as well as state agencies have been corresponding simply on paper with no concrete solutions on the ground. This is resulting into consistent cases of poaching and unnatural deaths of tigers in MP," alleged Dubey.
Counsel for the petitioner Siddharth Gupta said following amendments in Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and framing of Project Tiger, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) was executed between MOEF, NTCA and MP government in October 2010 for a dedicated STPF in MP.
"But MP government has not taken any steps on constituting STPF. NTCA even sent a reminder letter to MP government in 2012, referring to the earlier MOU, and urging it to urgently constitute STPF," said Gupta.
