By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government will set up 33 forest control rooms in the state to enable people report incidents of cruelty to animals and wildlife poaching, Forest Minister Babanrao Pachpute told the state assembly Wednesday.
These control rooms would come up in all the districts of the state – barring Mumbai district and Mumbai suburban district, he said.
The decision has been taken following several cases of poaching and maiming of wild animals in the state’s forests recently.
People coming to know of such incidents can call up the forest control rooms and report the matter, Pachpute said.
Barely a fortnight ago, state transport and tribal development minister D.B. Atram resigned over his alleged involvement in the poaching of an endangered chinkara deer.
The minister, belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said in his letter to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh that though he was not involved in any manner in the case, he was resigning since an inquiry was initiated against him.
The remains of a chinkara deer were discovered from Atram’s house in Gadchiroli district, eastern Maharashtra, in the first week of July following a raid by the forest department.