The Rajasthan government today transferred two top forest officials of the Ranthambhore National Park after taking cognizance on a report in the Sunday Express section of Indian Express on killing of tigers inside the national park. In the report, three poachers confessed killing ten tigers in the last two years and named another seven who had taken out at least a dozen more.



Forest Conservator Shafat Hussein and Deputy Field Director G S Bhardwaj have been asked to vacate their posts immediately. Speaking to the Indian Express, Rajasthan Chief Wildlife Warden R N Mehrotra said; ‘Both officials have been put on APO (Awaiting Posting Order). The CM is keen to fix accountability and has signed the order on a Sunday’. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has also convened a high-level meeting tomorrow to discuss the crisis.



With the tiger population perilously flirting with extinction, stringent punishment should be meted out to not only the poachers who kill the tigers, but the officials as well for failing to do their duty of protecting the magnificent cats. Sometimes the wildlife officials are found hand-in-glove with the poachers for earning mega-bucks with the sale proceeds of the felled wildlife. We can’t afford to overlook the tragedy that had befallen Sariska where not even a single tiger was spared alive by poachers stirring our collective conscience. The government must make an example of these officials so that it acts as a deterrent to other wildlife officials that their job is to protect the animals, not just to idle and go home with their paychecks each month.



News : The Indian Express