Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar travelling on a boat inside the Kaziranga National Park on Friday. (source: PTI Photo) Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar travelling on a boat inside the Kaziranga National Park on Friday. (source: PTI Photo)

The Centre would fund setting up a Special Rhino Protection Force (SRPF) for protecting one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga National Park and other rhino habitats in Assam, union forest and environment minister Prakash Javadekar said on Saturday. He also said that the Centre would look towards covering more rhino-poaching cases by the CBI.

Winding up his two-day visit to Assam during which he concentrated only on protecting rhinos, Javadekar told a press conference that the Centre was for “zero-tolerance” towards rhino poaching and asked the Congress government in the state to be more pro-active in this regard. He visited Kaziranga along with Assam Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain on Friday and also listened to public grievances there.

“This Special Rhino Protection Force, fully funded by the Centre, will essentially comprise of local youth knows the rhino habitat and has access to lot of vital information regarding rhinos and movement of suspicious people close to Kaziranga. The government also believes in increasing community participation in protecting wildlife and forests. After all it is the local community which gets most affected,” Javadekar said.

As many as 22 rhinos have been killed by poachers in Assam in the current year, while forest guards too have gunned down 20 poachers in the past eight months, Javadekar said. Twenty-four poachers on the other hand have been apprehended since January, he said. “Poaching has to be brought down to zero,” he added.

The minister also announced that the Centre would constitute a task force that would hold a series of consultations with all stakeholders in the next six months and come out with a comprehensive strategy to protect rhinos and wipe out poaching. The government would also ensure that six animal corridors that Kaziranga animals use would also be made free of human obstruction soon.

On the demand for handing over all rhino-poaching cases to the CBI, Javadekar said since two cases are already with the agency, he would find out whether more cases could be brought under its purview. “I will soon find out from the CBI if it could expand the scope of its probe and take up some of the glaring cases for investigation,” he said.

Terming his trip to Assam as “mission rhino”, Javadekar also asked the state government to ensure eviction of all encroachers from inside national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved forests. “Development and environment protection have to go hand in hand,” he said. The union minister had said in Kaziranga that the BJP government intended to increase the country’s forest cover from the existing 24 per cent to at least 33 per cent in the next 10-15 years.

Admitting that he was surprised at the overwhelming demand by the people for protecting rhinos, Javadekar said the people of Assam were totally committed in this regard. “The people of Assam love rhinos, take pride in the animal and wholeheartedly desire that the animal is protected. I am amazed that the demand for rhino protection has become a mass movement here,” he said.

CAMPA funds to states: The Centre would soon release 90 per cent of the Rs 33,000 crores lying in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA) to the states, the union minister said. He said that though the matter was lying with the Supreme Cout, the government was expecting the apex court to dispose the matter in the next few days.

“The states however will be expected not to reduce their own respective state allocation after the CAMPA funds are released,” he said.

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