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Friday, July 24, 2009

Goa tiger killing case moving at a snails pace

A TOI report of yesterday cites a gun siezed in the case from near the field where some tiger parts were found in June. The tiger was apparently killed some time in February and the forest department was forced to investigate when pictures of the carcass appeared in a local newspaper. Even after that local politicos and goverment wildlife officails tried to cover up the incident by putting the onus of proving the killing on the person who clicked the pictures. If that wasnt bizzare enough there has been little headway made in the case in the last 6 months and the person who was arrested as an accused was let off on bail as per the newspaper report. It does seem like a systematic attempt to destory evidence and the central government officals which dont normally shy away from providing a media byte are completely tight lipped about it.
Rampant cases of tiger killings are being reported with disturbing regularity across the country but apart from ad hoc investigations being ordered by state government to fix accountability and investigate causes there is little being done to streamline the entire process top to bottom. Except for the NTCA guidelines released recently regarding postmortems to be carried out in cases of tiger caracasse being found in and around sanctuaries, the centreal government has been slow in formulating a comprehensive policy on forest and tiger conservation. A broad umbrella approach broken down into specific steps is the need of the hour rather than quick fixes.

Gun seized in Keri tiger casein Keri

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4809233.cms

More protests against Tadoba Mines

Conservationists gathered together yesterday at Chandrapur to lend solidarity to the ongoing protests by local activists against the granting of mining lease license to Adani and other companes around Chandrapur forests. The Hindi and TOI reported Magsaysay award recipient Rajendra Singh joining in the protests. Citizen voice might be the only means to now avoid a disaster from taking place as officials and politicians in connivance with big business have made up their mind to destroy the ecology of the area. With legal avenues in India too cumbersome, expensive and sometimes weak, large scale protests by concerned citizens seems to be the only way to force the government to revoke the decision.


Magsaysay winner joins protest against TATR mine allotment