Making it clear that the Centre would adopt zero tolerance mechanism over the issue of poaching of one-horned rhino, Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday assured to set up a special rhino protection force for protection and conservation of the species.
The Union Minister, who had visited the Kaziranga National Park on Friday, also took up the issue of encroachment in forest land and protected areas such as Kaziranga and said that a special task force would also be formed soon to look into the matter.“We will have zero tolerance for rhino poaching. And that’s the reason why we have decided on creating a special rhino protection force,” he said while interacting with the media at the BSF camp at Patgaon near Rani, off Guwahati.
The assurance of the Union Minister assumes significance in the backdrop of the spurt in wildlife crimes in the State including poaching of rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park and other protected areas of the State.“The Centre, State Government and other stakeholders will work together to stop poaching. In the next six months, we’ll evaluate the work,” he said.
“The special rhino protection force will consist of youth who are from the surrounding villages of Kaziranga. They have fair knowledge about the park. We want the locals to participate in our efforts to prevent poaching,” Javadekar said. He asked the State Government to be more active saying it was the responsibility of the State Government to prevent poaching.
“If there is any encroachment of land in the jungle protection areas, we would want the State Government to take action,” Javadekar said.Individuals, civil society groups and NGOs in Assam claimed that large tracts of land in Kaziranga had been encroached upon by illegal Bangladeshi settlers. Javadekar had on Friday said illegal immigration and encroachment of land in Kaziranga were issues of serious concerns.
“We believe in development with protection of environment. They should go side by side. We cannot have development without the environment,” he said.It may be mentioned here that as many as 193 rhinos have been killed by poachers in Kaziranga since 2001. According to the Government statistics, the poachers had already killed over 23 rhinos, most of them in Kaziranga national park, this year.
The animal is killed for its horn, considered an aphrodisiac for both men and women. A rhino horn is sold at Rs1 crore in the international black market.