The principal chief conservators of forests, senior police officials of various states, parliamentary force officers and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) met in New Delhi last week to discuss the formation of a force to check poaching. While there was near unanimous decision that locals should be recruited in the force, the policy makers completely ignored the core issue of empowering existing ground staff.
The forest department officials who are actually working on grass root level to take on the poachers are reeling under severe problems. The irony is that the range forest officers are allotted fire arms but can not use them after 6 pm. Moreover, they are liable to be prosecuted under section 302 of the IPC which is for murder, if someone is killed during any operation. “I got the weapon around five years back and opened fire, that too in air, only once that too in self defence. No one wants to land in serious trouble by using the weapon,” said a range forest officer attached to wildlife wing of the department.
“The policy makers should first decide whether the force would act post-poaching or pre-poaching. The parameters of a sensitive tiger reserve must be identified well in advance for smooth operation of the force to obtained desired results,” said Kishor Rithe of Satpuda Foundation. Ideally the force should be stationed permanently in sensitive tiger reserves.
It is now proven beyond doubt that poachers are far more advanced than the forest department and it is virtually impossible for the department to take them on with the available infrastructure. “The forest department is no where even in picture when it comes to taking on the poachers. For us it is like fighting a loosing battle,” confessed a senior forest department official. He said that local staff must be strengthened to discharge their duties. “The government expects us to perform in all adverse conditions with virtually no support. We are under severe risks like threat to life if we fight poachers and risk of being prosecuted if a poacher is killed,” the official said.
Central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) Nitin Desai opined that wildlife crime needs to be tackled with a holistic view and policy makers must formulate ways to empower ground staff to take on poachers.