Assam government to act tough on rhino poaching

GUWAHATI: Trying to send a strong message that it would not take rhino poaching lightly, the Assam government has suspended Kaziranga National Park director Mufakkar Ali on charge of “negligence in his duties pertaining to protection of rhinos.”

Forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma has already made it clear that the government would act tough on any violation of and negligence of duties related to wildlife and forest conservation in the state.

The suspension of the Kaziranga director came close on the heels of arrest of divisional forest officer Mahat Chandra Talukdar on charges of corruption and possession of illegal wildlife parts.


“Our government’s commitment is to protect the rhinos, and will take all necessary steps to protect our state animal. So any negligence of duties by our officials will be taken very seriously,” Brahma said on Thursday.

The suspension order issued on Wednesday, said that Ali has been found “liable to have tampered evidence related to the incident of rhino poaching on 7th June 2016 (Tuesday) by misleading the authorities.”

Last Tuesday Kaziranga, a World Heritage Site about 250 km from here, lost one rhino to poachers when Brahma and her ministerial colleagues were on a visit to the park to take stock of the anti-poaching measures there.

Brahma then told reporters that she came to know about the poaching incident only through television news channels.

Kaziranga has already lost eight rhinos to poachers this year so far. That the poachers killed the rhino during the high profile ministerial visit only showed how the killers can strike any time virtually with impunity.

The 430 sq km park located on the southern banks of Brahmaputra has 2000-odd rhinos--- world’s highest concentration of the one-horned pachyderms. But with the soaring demand for rhino horns especially in China and Vietnam, the one-horned pachyderms of Kaziranga have been bearing the brunt of poaching. For the newly elected BJP-led government, stopping rhino poaching is one of the major electoral promises. In its Vision Document released ahead of the recently concluded assembly polls, BJP promised stopping rhino poaching by using latest technologies including “electronic monitoring.” Also the saffron party promised conviction of rhino poachers and setting up fast track courts for speeding discharge of wildlife disputes.