Wildlife and Right To Information (RTI) activist Ajay Dubey has alleged that undue delay and criminal negligence on the part of the forest department’s rescue team led to a tiger’s death at Mid Ghat and demanded CBI inquiry of the incident.
Notably, an adult male tiger hit by a speeding train died on Friday in the jungle close to the Mid Ghat area at Budhni tehsil of the adjoining Sehore district on Friday. The tiger was from the nearby Ratapani forest area, which still awaits a notification as a tiger reserve from the State Government. Dubey in a statement on Saturday alleged that the striped feline died due to the criminal negligence of the forest department that failed to provide treatment to the injured tiger for over 48 hours.
Dubey said, “Government of India (GoI) is telling since 2008 to make this sanctuary a tiger reserve, but the enemy of tigers Madhya Pradesh Government is not following GoI orders. Concerned with this, we have approached the High Court to soon make this sanctuary, a tiger reserve because the tiger population is fast increasing there. The court has accepted our petition and has sought reply over it from the State Government. Unfortunately, the Madhya Pradesh Government is opposing our demand in the court.”
Dubey further said that the information we are getting over tiger death at Mid Ghat reveals that the forest department failed to send medical team to rescue the train-hit striped feline for over 48 hours. “We wish to reveal that at this stage that the forest department of the Madhya Pradesh Government ordered to create posts of 10 wildlife doctors one each in all the sanctuaries and tiger reserves of the State including Ratapani in 2005. This order was approved by the State Cabinet in 2013, but till today, no action has been taken over it,” Dubey added. He said had there been a wildlife doctor posted in Ratapani, this tiger could have been saved. Moreover, hunting of this feline could also not ruled out, because as per the locals, the injured right paw of the feline suggests that it might have been trapped in metal trap of the hunters, hence we demand CBI enquiry of the incidence, he added.