Serious lapse on the part of the Forest department in the implementation of Supreme Court and National Tiger Conservation Authority's (NTCA) guidelines to protect big cats, has surfaced.
In a right to information application by noted wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, it has come to light that the department has not taken any serious steps to implement the directives of the court and the Authority despite the State witnessing the highest number of poaching cases last year.
According to the information received, the department ignored the directive of NTCA issued in December 2012 directing the Chief Principal Conservator of Forests to conduct two video conferences in a month with other officials to take stock of the security of endangered species in the State.
Following the directive, a notice was also issued to the Forest department officials by the Chief Principal Conservator of Forests in this regard. However, till now only one such meeting has been held i.e on March 2. The details of even this meeting have not been compiled by the department, the information shows.
Dubey has alleged that such laxity at the highest level is the reason why tigers are endangered in the State. The information obtained also shows that the recommendation of Umaria District Forest Officer that killing of a tiger in Umaria in December last year should be probed by the police and other agencies, because there were strong evidence showing involvement of poachers' gangs active in several States. This recommendation was ignored by the department.
On May 10, several tourists in Bandhavagarh tiger reserve clearly violated the guidelines of Supreme Court and took photographs of a tigress from close range and disturbed her. However, no action against them has been taken so far. Dubey has alleged that these instances show the lackadaisical attitude of the Forest department officials.