Staff Reporter
Guwahati: It is a matter of concern for nature lovers and conservationists that there were a total of 305 wildlife crime cases registered in the Northeast in the past five years, with the majority of 178 such cases registered in Assam.
The statistics were revealed by Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
According to the data provided by the Union Minister, in the period from 2020 to 2024, the state-wise wildlife crime cases registered in the Northeast were as follows: Assam had 178 cases, Meghalaya 71, Tripura 30, Arunachal Pradesh 14, Manipur and Nagaland 5 each, and Mizoram 2 cases.
In Assam, 40 wildlife crime cases were registered in 2020, 41 cases in 2021, and 42 cases in 2022, followed by a slight decline to 29 in 2023 and then 26 such cases in 2024. The second-highest number of wildlife crime cases in the NE region was registered in Meghalaya, with 71 cases in the past five years-28 in 2020, 13 in 2021, 28 in 2022, and 1 each in 2023 and 2024.
In response to a question raised by MP Dr D. Purandeswari, MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh replied, "Conservation, management and protection of the wildlife, including prevention of illegal trafficking, is primarily the responsibility of the respective state governments and union territory administrations. The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, empowers state governments and union territory administrations to make seizures and register offences in case of contravention of the provisions of the Act."
Union MoS Singh went on to say that the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) collates and shares intelligence with states and enforcement agencies to combat the organized wildlife crime and also issues actionable alerts regarding illegal wildlife trade. "The Bureau coordinates with the state governments and other authorities for enforcement of the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The WCCB conducts interagency coordination meetings and joint operations with the law enforcement agencies and undertakes capacity building of the state police, Forest, and Customs officials. It also conducts sensitisation programmes for the border guarding forces and awareness programmes for the Panchayati Raj institutions," he clarified.
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