JAIPUR: Wildlife activists have questioned the utility of another investigation into the Sariska shame seven years after the reserve was poached of all its tigers.
"What do they hope to find after seven years since the tigers became extinct in the sanctuary. It is difficult to find anything even seven days after a tiger's death and seven years is a long time. Tigers are now back on the reserve," activists said.
"Take the example of the last tiger death in Sariska ---that of male tiger ST-1. We were unable to find much details even days after its death and this incident is now history," they add.
Seven years after it came to light in 2005, the Sariska tiger reserve was cleaned of all its big cats, the Rajasthan government on Monday began another investigation into the disappearance, poaching and lapses in security for tigers there. The investigation is being done by the state's additional chief secretary, development, B B Mohanty.
It comes at a time when not only are many of those accused in poaching at Sariska, including Sansar Chand and his brother, are behind bars but most of the officers and field staff that were present then have long been changed.
Even tigers, five to be precise, are now back again at Sariska with the state forest department embarking on an ambitious relocation programme in 2008..
But BB Mohanty sounded confident and claimed to have even discovered a "connivance"' that was ultimately responsible for wiping out tigers at the sanctuary.
"It will be a very different story once the investigations are over. I am trying to get down to the real issue. There is a sort of a connivance that exists in Sariska and we will bring this out after the investigation," he said.
Interestingly, the state government had not only ordered an inquiry by the then chief wildlife warden R N Mehrotra no sooner did Sariska's shame hit the national headlines, but that was followed by another committee set up by the Vidhan Sabha under the BJP MP from Bhilwara VP Singh. This again was followed by investigations by a special committee set up by the Prime Minister and the CBI.
"Though this inquiry was instituted in 2010, but it was only in March 2011 that I took over the investigations. I have visited Sariska twice and am being aided by a person from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. We will come out with the real, detailed story in about two-three months. Prior to this not much work had been done in the investigations," claimed Mohanty.
According to Mohanty the investigations will be focusing on carelessness in keeping a count of tigers, managerial failure in the project, security lapses, lapses in measures to protect wildlife, officers and other staff ultimately responsible for the poaching of tigers, lack of punitive action on staff responsible for poaching and the non-utilisation of budget.
"Sariska is not only facing a problem of lack of water bodies which are absolutely necessary for wildlife there, but problems also stem from the fact that villages in the sanctuary release their livestock to graze in the forest thereby robbing it of greenery. I am in touch with experts and have sought the advice of residents, school teachers etc so that we are able to do a transparent investigation," he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Activists-question-utility-of-fresh-inquiry-into-Sariska-shame/articleshow/8200363.cms
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