Wildlife activists alleged on Tuesday that inspite of repeated complaints to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and chief wildlife warden SS Sharma who is also the acting PCCF, the illegal commercial use of langurs continued to thrive especially in prominent ashrams at Haridwar and Rishikesh.
The activists pointed out that the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau had in 2012 issued an advisory about keeping langurs in captivity, trading, hiring or training these simians being a punishable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act. However, despite this and repeated complaints to the CWW, langurs were still being kept in captivity by madaris at various places in Haridwar and Rishikesh where these animals are used to scare away macaques.
In a letter sent to CWW SS Sharma on Tuesday, PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi stated that despite repeated complaints, the Forest department has done nothing to stop the illegal use of langurs in the State.
“The illegal commercial use of langurs is thriving at Geeta Bhawan, Shantikunj and Parmarth Niketan but the department has not booked a case so far against this crime. The madaris making commercial use of the langurs, kill mother langurs in the forests and then sell and train the langur infants,” she alleged.
Activists had communicated the name, address and mobile phone number of one such madari to the CWW last year but no concrete action has been taken against him so far. She further writes to Sharma, “Since you had directed the Rajaji national park director SP Subudhi to take necessary action in this case and as no such action has been taken yet, it can be surmised that such department officers are also involved in this illegal business. On January 10 this year, you were informed about a madari named Anjaar, who lives near Shantikunj in Haridwar and you had established that he was involved in the illegal business but no action has been taken against him so far.”
It is pertinent to mention here that prominent Ashrams and other establishments especially in Haridwar and Rishikesh employ madaris who use langurs to scare away macaques. last year one such langur was strangulated while being made to ‘guard’ an ashram in Rishikesh by a madari. Activists had then revealed that the department had granted permission to the manager of Geeta Bhawan, Swargashram to keep a trained langur provided it is bought from a licensed dealer. This reporter phoned the CWW for his response to the allegations, but he did not respond.