Protection of rhinos and Ex-ministers

Protection of rhinos and Ex-ministers

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has unveiled many facts about the Kaziranga National Park hitherto unknown to us. Rockybul Hussain, the erstwhile Forest minister in his peculiar style and manner, made the people believe that our Forest department left no stone unturned to ensure protection of the rhinos of Kaziranga tiol Park and other rhino inhabitated parks. We people too took it at face value. The promises of the Forest minister to protect the rhinos notwithstanding, the killing spree of rhinos continued. The minister sometimes fumbled to proffer excuses before the people, always harping that our guards are being properly trained to use sophisticated arms to match the modern firepower of the poachers. But after the reports of the CAG , the cat has been let out of the bag. From reports of CAG, it transpires that the weapons at the custody of the forest guards were so obsolete that all the weapons were unserviceable. The most appalling point of the report is that the wildlife guards were not properly trained to handle the weapons. The report further reveals - "The available arms are not dependable as these are old and have become defective and are prone to misfire." The report further reveals that most of the anti-poaching camps are in a dilapidated condition. Moreover, the manpower guarding the parks is not adequate to confront the poachers and when a guard dies in harness, there is no provision of appointment on compassiote ground. Appointment made as casual worker is few and far between so, the guards are not motivated. Our Ex-Forest minister, are you listening? What excuse you will now put forward?

Ashok Bordoloi,

Dibrugarh.