Following complaints about various anomalies pertaining to observance of wildlife laws, the State chief wildlife warden and principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife) SS Sharma has ordered cancellation of all licences issued to bird sellers in the State.
Apart from this, steps will also be taken in the complaint about a langur selling racket being allegedly conducted from Shantikunj campus in Haridwar, an elephant being kept illegally in captivity at a resort near Corbett tiger reserve and noisy generators being used at three rest houses in Corbett.
People for Animals, Uttarakhand, had complained to the CWW about various anomalies across the State wherein wildlife laws were being blatantly violated. According to PFA, Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi, licences had been issued to bird sellers by the forest department without verifying the State of their business -- whether the applicants had a shop or were selling on the roadside and even their addresses had not been checked.
Responding to this complaint, the CWW said that all licences issued to bird sellers will be cancelled. Fresh licences will be issued after following the due procedure, he stressed. In another complaint, it was stated that langurs were being sold illegally from the Shantikunj campus in Haridwar, mostly to prominent ashrams in Haridwar and Rishikesh. According to the PFA, "The Ministry of Environment and Forests has banned the use of langurs for scaring away macaques.
A langur can be trained only if it is captured when young and in order to do this, its mother and probably other members of its troop have to be killed by trappers which means that at least one langur is killed for every langur captured young and trained to scare away macaques.
We had provided the name and address of the langur supplier to the CWW and it was established that he was supplying the simians to wherever required in the State in blatant violation of the Wildlife Protection Act," she said. Regarding this complaint, Sharma said that he will direct the Rajaji national park authorities to look into the matter after which necessary action would be taken.
Another complaint was regarding a captive elephant being kept at a resort in Almora forest division near Corbett national park. "Two years ago, during an inspection directed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the pachyderm Pawankali was found to be kept in captivity without an ownership certificate. Blood and stool tests conducted by the Corbett administration showed that she has severe bacterial infection and hasn't even been vaccinated," according to PFA.
Responding to this complaint, Sharma said that now action will have to be taken by the divisional forest officer. The organisation has also demanded that three noisy generators used at Sarpduli, Sultan and Gairal guest houses in Corbett should be replaced by noiseless generators as it is a violation to generate noise inside Corbett when the surrounding area has been declared no-noise zone.