Environmentalist Ram Babu ‘Junglee’ is miffed at the State Government for not only forgetting its own assurances but also for ignoring him even though the President’s secretariat had written a letter to the Chief Secretary to inform Babu about measures taken for conservation of the environment and the State bird Monal pheasant.
Though the Himachal Pradesh principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) has responded to his memorandum, the authorities in Uttarakhand have continued to turn a blind eye to him. Ailing from a respiratory ailment, Babu has been undergoing treatment in the Doon Hospital for more than a year now.
He told The Pioneer, “I had written a letter to the President of India in March this year eliciting focus on indiscriminate tree felling for ‘development works’ without the necessary compensatory afforestation, the dwindling population of the Monal and unscientific detonations carried out for road construction among other environmental issues. A letter from the President’s secretariat had asked the State chief secretary to inform me about measures taken on these issues”, he said.
The Himachal Pradesh PCCF (Wildlife) responded to Babu’s queries stating that the information submitted by him was vague. However, the PCCF did inform about the various steps taken by the Himachal Pradesh forest department for conservation of environment and the Monal.
The Uttarakhand authorities are yet to respond to Junglee in spite of the letter sent from the President’s secretariat. He avers that the population of the Monal in Uttarakhand has dwindled to 3029 from 10069. “I mimic the call of the bird and count the birds which respond to it. I have the skills and dedication but I am being ignored by the authorities while NGOs that do little work face no dearth of funds,” he laments.
More than a year ago, on the initiative of the Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli, the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had announced that the State government will provide Rs 80,000 for my medical expenses but not a single rupee has been received yet”, he said.