DEHRADUN: Upset over reports of killing of Himalayan black bears at large scale by poachers in Chamoli and Rudraprayag in the past few months, state forest minister Dinesh Agarwal held a meeting with senior forest officials on Wednesday and warned them of strong punitive action against those found conniving with poachers as well as those from the department responsible for preventing such poaching incidents.
Dinesh Agarwal said, "Uttarakhand is known for its rich wildlife and we can not let it perish in the hands of poachers for monetary gains. I admit failure of forest department in preventing poaching of Himalayan black bear." He further added, "However I have given direction to the forest officials to, keep up the surveillance, regular monitoring and intensive patrolling with GPS equipped gadgets during to maintain record of observations. I have talked to director general of police also to extend their support in sharing intelligence with the forest department in containing wildlife crime."
He repeated rhetoric of long overdue strengthing of anti-poaching cell. "Dhananjay Mohan, head of anti-poaching cell, will be provided newly recruited range officers as helping hands. The information will now onwards percolate from territorial division and van panchayat to the anti-poaching staff," he said.
It was on the proactive action of PK Patro, divisional forest official of Dehradun that the forest department could nab poachers in two separate incidents, on November 27 and 25 with total eight bile pods of Himalayan black bear on their own without the help of police department. Traffic India, wildlife NGO, provided the intelligence and additional support. However almost two weeks ago, it was Special Task Force (STF) who caught two accused with two bile pods from Rishikesh.
Patro told TOI, "It is after working for three months on these cases, that we could nab these accused with the seizure of bile pods and gather significant information about their network. Had the accused been held by police, they would have booked the case and forgotten about it. However with the arrest made by the forest department, we can proceed with investigation and gather vital links about their network which will be of vital importance for us."
He said, however the way police has wide intelligence network and a body, STF which just work on broad investigation and arrest of accused after which it hands over the matter to the police to carry on further, the system is lacking in the forest department. DFO himself has to do all the running around while managing other forestry related affairs. However with the strengthening of the anti-poaching cell with additional manpower, he said this problem can be resolved to large extent.
