Bhopal, June 8, 2012: In a shift of stand, the Madhya
Pradesh government has declined to order a CBI probe and
instead formed a committee to investigate into the alleged
disappearance and poaching of wild cats from Panna Tiger
Reserve (PTR).
Official sources said the state government has put
Inspector General of Police of Sagar Range and Director, PTR
in the committee constituted by Madhya Pradesh Forest
Department.
According to the information received in response to an
RTI query, the then Additional Chief Secretary of Madhya
Pradesh Government M K Roy has recommended a CBI probe to look
into poaching and disappearance of tigers from the sanctuary.
"There have been many cases of poaching and disappearance
of tigers in the last 5-10 years from PTR.
"The state government wants the CBI to probe the
conspiracy in the disappearance of tigers from PTR and
involvement of international smugglers in it. All such cases
where challans have not been submitted should also be
incorporated in it (probe)", Roy, who is now the chairman of
Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE), has said
in his letter written in January last year.
After a year of inter-departmental deliberations, the
Home Department has constituted a committee apparently
rejecting the recommendations for a CBI probe made by the
former top officer of the forest department.
"The Home Department has formed a committee to look into
tigers death overruling the then Additional Chief Secretary
of the Forest Department. They did not send the
recommendations for a CBI probe to the Centre. It is a grave
injustice", asserted wild life activist Ajay Dubey, who has
accessed Roy's letter through RTI.
Various social activists and wildlife experts had
written to both the state and central governments to order a
CBI enquiry into cases of tiger death in PTR.
When contacted Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Sartaj
Singh said, "I have given my proposal (for a CBI enquiry). The
decision (to form a committee) is taken by another department
(Home)".
As per the norms, the decision to constitute a CBI
enquiry is taken by the Department of Personnel of training
(DoPT), a Central Government nodal agency in Delhi, on the
recommendation of the state government's Home Department.
According to a report by the Madhya Pradesh Government,
there was no tiger in Panna Reserve in the 2009 census carried
out by the authorities there. The report says that there were
about 20 tigers in 2006.
Citing it as an example of 'fence eating the crop', the
report had strongly recommended a CBI probe into the alleged
disappearance of the striped cats.
About 19 cases of tiger poaching were noticed by
authorities in PTR over the last seven or eight years, the
report had found. Currently, there are four tigers in PTR
which have been brought from other reserves.
"It is a grave matter. The state government is not
interested in a CBI probe to look into tigers death. We will
write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about it", said Dubey,
who has filed a PIL in MP High Court in this regard.
Dubey said there are instances of poaching and
trafficking of tigers to various national and international
destinations by well-established syndicates which need to be
exposed and punished.
According to an RTI reply by the NTCA, as many as 337
tigers have lost their lives in and outside various reserves
of the country in the last decade due to poaching, infighting,
accidents and old age among others.
Of these, the highest of 58 were found dead in 2009,
followed by 56 in 2011, 36 in 2008 and 28 each in 2007 and
2002. A total of 17 tigers, including cubs, were found dead in
2005, 16 each in 2003 and between January and March this year,
and 14 in 2006, it said.
According to the data, as many as 68 tigers were victims
of poaching during the period. Besides, others had died of
natural causes, including old age, starvation, road and rail
accidents, electrocution and weakness.
The highest of 14 tigers were poached in 2010, 13 in
2009, 11 in 2011, nine in 2002, six each in 2007 and 2008,
five in 2006, three in January and March this year and one in
2004.
Tiger population in the country was estimated to be 1,706
as per the 2010 data.
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