‘Politics’ behind rhino poaching

Hinting that there could be a ‘political conspiracy’ in the spurt in rhino poaching in the famed Kaziranga National Park, Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain today said that the CBI inquiry would throw light on different aspects of the rhino killings. The State Government is also contemplating amending relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act-1972 to give more teeth to the deterrent measures like making poaching punishable by 7 to 10 years. Meanwhile, following Thursday’s killing of a rhino in Kaziranga, the State Government has constituted a committee with BS Bonal, CCF (Wildlife), which has been asked to submit a report immediately after an on-the-spot inquiry. Addressing a press conference, Hussain said that the killing of rhinos invariably coincided with some instability in the political sphere “as when a particular party was defeated in panchayat polls or when a leader of that party joined the Congress.” “However, since the matter has been handed over to the CBI, it would not be proper to dwelt more on this. We are confident that the CBI would unravel many hidden aspects of the recent rhino poaching,” he said. Asserting that the Forest Department was initiating adequate measures to protect the rhino, the Minister said that the spurt in poaching made it imperative that the law was made more stringent for dealing with forest crimes, especially poaching. “We want to have the Wildlife Protection Act-1972 amended for extending the term of a convicted poacher to 7 to 10 years instead of the present 3 years,” Hussain said, adding that such an amendment could be an effective deterrent.This year poachers have killed seven rhinos of the Kaziranga National Park besides three in the Orang National Park. Source: assam tribune

Rockybul refutes conspiracy angle

Forest Minister and Government spokesperson Rockybul Hussain today sought to refute the ‘conspiracy’ angle over the arrest of sacked Education Minister Ripun Bora who was arrested by the CBI in Delhi on the charge of offering a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to the investigating agency. Reacting to party MP Kirip Chaliha’s statement before the media on Thursday that the developments culminating in Bora’s arrest strongly pointed to a conspiracy, and that in all likelihood the Chief Minister had knowledge about it, Hussain, while addressing the media with Water Resources Minister Bharat Narah, said that Chaliha’s theory of a conspiracy as also the allegation against the Chief Minister was baseless and motivated. Hussain also said that the matter would be taken up with the disciplinary action committee of the Congress for taking necessary action against Chaliha. “The matter would be informed to the party disciplinary committee,” he said. To a query whether Chaliha’s statement revealed infighting and wrangling in the party, the Minister replied in the negative. He also refused to comment on the reported statement of Bora that a Congress Minister and an MP were behind his arrest. Hussain also came down heavily on the AGP, BJP and AGP (P) for their tirade against the Congress over the Ripun Bora episode, saying that the three parties had all along been shielding their proven criminal leaders and that they had no moral right to demand Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s resignation over the issue.“While this is not to justify the incident involving Ripun Bora, the fact stands that the AGP, BJP and AGP (P) have a number of criminals as their leaders, whom they have been promoting all along. The Congress has already removed Bora from the ministry following the incident, and the law would take its own course,” he said, adding that the opposition parties had taken action on none of their tainted leaders. The Minister also denied media reports that the Congress high command had sought a list of ‘tainted leaders’ of the Assam Congress. “As far as my knowledge goes, there has been no such instruction from the high command,” he said.