Forest, Wildlife Acts violated in M.P.

 The Hindu 

Lalit Shastri

BHOPAL FEBRUARY 02, 2000 00:00 IST

BHOPAL, FEB. 1. The Central Government has expressed concern over reports relating to the violation of the Forest and Wildlife Acts and the declining quality of management of the Protected Areas, which include the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, in Madhya Pradesh.

According to a reliable source, the Central Government representatives, who had accompanied a team from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), on a field visit to the State earlier this week, were very critical of the `computerised' presentation by the director of the Kanha National Park, Mr. Rajesh Gopal and his colleagues.

Inquiries revealed that Rajesh Gopal-led show aided by the forest department staff from the Pench and Panna National Parks, did not reflect the problems of poaching and field administration but only dramatised that all was well with the Protected Areas in the State. However this is in sharp contrast to the assessment of many wildlife experts and newspaper reports describing the ground level situation on the forest and wildlife front in the State as the `worst crisis ever.'

The Central Government officials, who accompanied the CITES team included the Additional I.G. of Forests, Mr. S. C. Sharma and the director, Project Tiger, Mr. P. K. Sen.

The Centre's concern, obviously, was aggravated particularly, after the recent Khaga seizure in Uttar Pradesh, the biggest ever seizure of big cat derivatives.

Since the CITES recognises that international cooperation is essential for protection of certain species of wild fauna and flora against over exploitation, its team was apparently concerned about the latest seizure of big cat derivatives in Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, it is not unlikely that the CITES team was expecting some feedback about the problem of poaching in Madhya Pradesh. But the official presentation before the CITES team mainly revolved around various aspects relating to the management of the Protected Areas.

After the Khaga seizure, the chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh has gone on record saying that the tiger derivatives came from Madhya Pradesh. When his Madhya Pradesh counterpart, Mr. P. K. Mishra, was asked to react to the charge, he told The Hindu that such a huge seizure could not be from Madhya Pradesh. ``The chief wildlife warden of Uttar Pradesh has neither informed nor given any source to say from where he has collected this information,'' Mr. Mishra added.

On the tiger carcass found inside the Pench National Park earlier this month and the one found in the same area last month and another found at Bichwa outside Kanha in the recent past, Mr. Mishra said that these could not be related to poachers. ``The carcass itself confirms that it is not a case of poaching but that of infighting between the tigers,'' Mr. Mishra said adding that he had himself visited the spot and the carcasses were burnt after video recording.

Mr. Mishra's stand notwithstanding, another State forest department official, on condition of anonymity, said that the field protection approach in Madhya Pradesh was so weak and disjointed that it seemed there was an `operation wipe out' going on in the State. ``What is most shocking is that it is happening in a Congress(I)-ruled State where they are supposed to be following the ethics of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who were strongly committed to the cause of environment and wildlife,'' the official said.

Another forest official referred to the latest incident in which a police constable was attacked and killed by a Cheetal (spotted deer) kept in captivity inside the senior Congress(I) leader, Mr. Arjun Singh's bungalow at Kerwan near here last Tuesday and the subsequent seizure of two spotted deers from that premises by the forest officials. He said that Section 9 of The Wildlife (protection) Act, 1972, prohibited the hunting of all wildlife specified under Schedules I to IV of the Act. Besides killing, poisoning and snaring, hunting also included capture and trapping of any wild animal or driving any wild animal or attempt to do so, as defined by the Act.

He also focussed attention on Section 39 of the Act under which all wild animals were the Government property and it made it mandatory under Section 39.2 for any person who obtained the possession of Government property to report it to the nearest police station or authorised forest staff within 48 hours of obtaining such a possession. Section 39.3 of the Act further said that no person without previous permission in writing of the Chief Wildlife Warden acquire, keep in custody or control such Government property.

This particular episode called for a thorough review of cases where individuals were keeping wild animals in captivity in gross violation of the Wildlife Act, he said adding that accountability would also have to be established in case of those who were supposed to enforce the Act and its provisions.