The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) has once again urged the State Government to appoint right candidates as Honourary Wildlife Wardens (HWWs) for 2020-22 as per norms for the safety of wildlife and their habitats.
In a letter to the ACS, Forest and Environment Department, WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty noted that the appointments deed to be made as per the selection guidelines of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change. Evaluation of past performance for re-appointments should be done.
“Honorary Wildlife Wardens (HWW) play crucial role in safeguarding the valuable wildlife wealth of Odisha. During the last one year, the State has seen a high-level of poaching of elephants, leopards and pangolins. The department’s efforts to check poaching can be impactful if eligible HWWs are appointed to provide intelligence support,” pointed out Mohanty.
As per MoEF and CC norms, persons having genuine concern for wildlife conservation, persons having a record of free of involvement in any activity detrimental to the interests of nature and wildlife conservation, candidates having capacity to render help to the official machinery and eligible locals are appointed as HWWs.
“We believe that many of the current HWWS do not meet the above criteria and have been selected arbitrarily on extraneous considerations without efforts to bring in enthusiastic young men,” noted Mohanty.
In 2018, many persons had been re-appointed for the third time in a row without assessment of the past record. Reappointments may be made on performance reports only, said Mohanty.