Protector at hand?

Siliguri, Feb. 29: The finance minister’s announcement of a one-time grant of Rs 50 crore to raise, arm and deploy a special tiger protection force in big cat reserves across the country has evoked mixed reactions.

S.C. Dey, the secretary-general of Global Tigers’ Forum, an inter-governmental body, said over the phone from Delhi: “Considering constrains like shortage of appropriate arms to deal with poachers, existence of 30 to 50 per cent vacancies and the fact that most forest guards are over 50 years old, such a force is essential.”

The move to grant the fund to the National Tiger Conservation Authority is the result of a recent count, which revealed that the number of tigers in India is slightly above 1,400.

Ananta Roy, the Bengal forest minister, however, is dissatisfied. “We doubt how much can be done with Rs 50 crore. There are more than 30 tiger reserves and we are unsure as to how much will be allotted to each.”

Senior foresters also echoed him. “The fund allotted to raise and deploy a force should not be so low and a one-time grant,” a senior official said. “The maintenance of a force is a recurring expenditure which should have been mentioned in the budget.”

Not everybody is pessimistic. “States with tiger reserves should raise the force and utilise the fund. The amount allotted is not the key issue,” said Bibhab Talukdar, associated with the International Union of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), from Guwahati today.