CBI probe demanded to crack poachers, officers nexus in Panna TNN

NAGPUR: Even as wildlife week is being celebrated amid fanfare, Prayatna, an environmental action group from Bhopal, has demanded a CBI probe into missing tigers in Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh. In a letter written to MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on October 1, Ajay Dubey of Prayatna has said that nexus between Panna reserve officials and poachers, as a cause of decimation of tigers in Panna, needs to be probed. "Observation of wildlife week should not turn out to be a fashionable and meaningless event. Poaching is posing a grave threat to tigers. Due to poaching and other reasons, MP has lost its 'tiger state' status. Now, only 257 tigers are left in the state," Dubey warned. Decimation of tigers in Panna is the main reason behind this. Earlier, a demand for a CBI inquiry from several forums was ignored. "It puts a question mark on the attitude of the government on the protection of tigers," Prayatna said. "It is very painful that the government, instead of taking any action against offenders, is interested in protecting the culprits who are highly placed and influential," it alleged. In 2007, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had written to the government to institute a CBI inquiry on poaching in Panna, but no action was taken. NTCA's PK Sen committee had revealed that poaching was one of the main reasons behind decimation of tigers in Panna. A similar demand was made by the NTCA in 2009. On March 3, 2010, forest minister Sartaj Singh had announced a CBI inquiry, but it never happened. Former additional chief secretary MK Roy and director of Panna reserve R Srinivasa Murthy had also submitted a report to PCCF (wildlife), MP, HS Pabla admitting that there is nexus between officials and poachers. According to him, officials buried poaching cases by allegedly accepting bribes from the offenders. Murthy has also stated that 2002 to 2007 was a turbulent period as many tigers went missing in these five years. Dubey has also questioned the MP Government's inaction in not notifying buffer zones around tiger reserves, which is mandatory as per the amended Wildlife Protection Act 1972. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/CBI-probe-demanded-to-crack-poachers-officers-nexus-in-Panna/articleshow/10225854.cms