Criticism against meet for no-action plan against forest mafia

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An animal rights group today alleged that the Forest Minister's conference of southern states held here today failed to chalk out any action plan to tackle the presence of " forest mafia" in the ranges of Western Ghats, a rare biodiversity hotspot in the region.

The meeting, attended by forest ministers and high level officials of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana besides Kerala, was convened to address various issues faced by the wildlife in the region and sort out a solution to settle them.

Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force, an animal rights group, said the meeting failed to find out a solution to curtail the "underground activities of forest mafia" in the Ghats region.

A series of issues ranging from spending on tiger conservation programmes to the disclosing of results of the forensic tests regarding the unnatural deaths of wildlife including elephants, tigers, leopards, bisons in the region should have been discussed during the conference, Task force Secretary V K Venkatachalam said.

The outfit alleged that the participants at the meeting remained silent over the rampant illegal elephant safari in tourism spots in their respective states, the release added.

Kerala government organised the meet to discuss trans-border, wildlife protection and conservation issues.