RAIPUR: In a serious remark against the Chhattisgarh government, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has revealed in its detailed report citing the ‘tiger/wildlife conservation does not appear to be priority of the state government”.
The NTCA besides providing statutory authority to Project Tiger also fosters accountability of Centre-State in management of it.
“This seems to be the scenario from all the three tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh. There is no person at Achanakmar Tiger Reserve (ATR) who has secured training in the wildlife management courses like diploma, certificate or vertical integration”, the NTCA report accessed by The New Indian Express pointed out huge vacancy at the frontline and ministerial staff level.
The NTCA supervisory report submitted during the end of 2018 to its head office in the national capital, observed that just three Special Tiger Reserve Force (STPF) units at Achanakmar tiger reserve in Bilaspur district, about 180 km east of Raipur, are recruited on contractual basis and their awareness about the wildlife crime was found to be quite poor.
Without any training given to them, they had not detected any crime committed in the reserve. Inadequate training of officers and staff in wildlife management has been identified as a serious problem under Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP). The NTCA also felt there was lack of travel undertaken by the supervising officers within the tiger reserve and found uninterrupted illegal grazing inside which the conservation authority had advocated to prevent it.
The NTCA also cited the administrative set-up of senior officials associated with the tiger reserve are not “conveniently located”.
“There should be an ease of administration and the officials should be able to visit the tiger reserve daily to exercise a close supervision and coordinate with the Field Director office closely”, suggested the supervisory report of NTCA.