New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday stayed the Assam government’s order to deploy around 1,600 Assam Forest Protection Force personnel for the Assembly elections scheduled on April 9.
As per a report by a news agency, the eastern zonal bench of the NGT in Kolkata, headed by judicial member Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member Ishwar Singh, also issued a notice to the Centre. The bench was hearing a plea challenging the March 19 order, which directed forest personnel to assist the Assam Police during the polls.
The plea, filed by advocate Gaurav Bansal, argued that diverting the forest force from their primary duties of protecting and conserving biological resources for election-related work violates the state’s obligations under the Biological Diversity Act.
It claimed that such a large-scale deployment could severely affect the protection of Assam’s sensitive forests, including tiger reserves and other protected areas, leaving them vulnerable to poaching, illegal wildlife trade, and timber felling.
The tribunal said that the plea raised “substantial questions” related to environmental protection and issued notices to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Assam government, the state biodiversity board, and the National Biodiversity Authority.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on April 6, when the authorities will be expected to submit their responses.