The Congress demanded a probe into poaching of wild animals and felling of trees in Rajnandgaon and suspension of officials who are involved in these illegal activities here on Friday.The state was passing through a very dangerous phase as the wildlife and forests were not safe that would lead to serious environmental crisis, said president of the state Congress media cell Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.
Ever since Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh took the reins of the forest department, he said, poaching and trafficking of wild animals were on the rise and also deforestation.
Even monkeys were not safe in the state that thousands of them were butchered and trafficked. Taking a dig at the BJP’s slogan to protest “water, forest and land”, he said considering the track record of Dr Raman Singh government it was nothing but a joke.
The state government handed over the water and land to the business houses and the forests to the forest mafia who are exploiting them to the hilt, he regretted. The BJP that took pride for being followers of the lord Ram did not even spare his devout aide Hanuman’s species monkey that they were killed and the flesh was trafficked.
The monkey meat was being trafficked from the Rajnandgaon district from where Chief Minister hails and now his son Abhishek Singh is contesting the lok Sabha polls from the seat, he said.According to him besides monkey, tigers and other endangered species of wild animals were facing existential crisis following poaching as the CM was not doing enough to contain this menace.
The CM was busy with his political work and the officials were also not doing enough to protect the wildlife and the forests, he noted. He urged the state government to probe into the poaching and deforestation forthwith. Besides this, he sought immediate suspension of the officials who were hand in glove with poachers and other mafia involved in these illegal acts.