BHUBANESWAR: The Centre on Sunday maintained that there is no move to commercialise the trade of Schedule-I species in the proposed amendment of the Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA), 1972 and no such provisions exist in the Bill which is under consideration of the Parliament.
In response to a news item, ‘Odisha exposes pan-India jumbo smuggling racket’ published in The New Indian Express dated June 19, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) asserted that as per sections 40 and 43 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, possession and transportation of live elephants from one place to another is allowed under certain conditions. The forged document (no-objection certificate) used by someone is more of a crime under the IPC, rather than WLPA, it added.
It is technically and legally incorrect to say that the Centre is commercialising the trade of Schedule-I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. “There had not been any such move to commercialise trade of Schedule-I species listed in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in the proposed amendment and no such provision exists in the Wildlife Protection Bill under consideration before the Parliament,” it said.
The Ministry, in a rejoinder, said it has already requested the State government to enquire into the recent death of an elephant in Odisha and take strict action against the offenders. Any information received by the Ministry regarding the transportation of elephants is taken seriously and gets enquired, it said. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau also keeps alerting state governments regarding such wildlife crimes and illegal trade, it added.
Further, Project Elephant has started the DNA profiling of captive elephants involving the Wildlife Institute of India and state governments for which the Gajah Soochana Mobile App and detailed protocol have been launched. Samples of more than 80 elephants from different states have been collected in a pilot phase and a database has been compiled, which will certainly be helpful in keeping a tab on the transfer and transportation of captive elephants in future, it added.