By IANS
Jaipur : Rajasthan, which has drawn severe flak for losing its tiger population to poaching, has decided to appoint 1,000 former soldiers to help guard wildlife sanctuaries throughout the state.
After getting a sanction from the finance department, the state forest department has already started the appointment process. Rajasthan has two tiger projects, a bird sanctuary and 25 wildlife sanctuaries besides 32 closed areas.
“For the safety of wildlife and to curb the incidence of poaching, as many as 1,000 retired army soldiers would be hired and deployed on contract basis in various sanctuaries and national parks at a monthly remuneration of Rs.4,000,” L.N. Dave, Rajasthan’s forest minister, told IANS.
The former army personnel would be given intensive training and would also be provided with firearms, he said.
“We are in the process of inviting applications and the last date to submit the application is Aug 20, while the final list would be declared on Sep 1 after which the short-listed candidates would have to undergo a physical test,” Dave said.
Though no official statistics have been released so far, sources in the forest department said that 125 security personnel would be deployed in Ranthambore, 100 in Sariska, 75 in Udaipur, 70 in Chittorgarh and 55 in Jaipur and Kota each.
Ranthambore National Park sprawls across 640 sq km and has 63 forest guards, 10 assistant conservators and 15 foresters, while the Sariska Tiger Reserve covers 881 sq km and has about 74 forest guards and 25 assistant conservators.
Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary has 31 forest guards, eight assistant conservators and eight foresters.
This move follows widespread criticism over the disappearance of tigers from Sariska. A report produced in March 2005 by the Wildlife Institute of India confirmed that there were indeed no tigers left in the reserve.
While an official census in 2004 had indicated between 16 and 18 tigers lived in Sariska, by the middle of the year no tigers could be seen. Inquiries later revealed that poachers had killed all the tigers at Sariska. Other animals such as panthers had also been targeted.