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| Kaziranga National Park |
Guwahati, Sept. 29: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has suggested to the Assam forest department to set up a joint control room at Kaziranga National Park to expedite the investigation of wildlife crime cases.
The bureau today held discussions with senior officials of state forest department to take stock of the situation and suggest steps to the Centre to contain rhino poaching.
The team came after minister of state (Independent charge) for environment and forests Jayanthi Natarajan recently ordered an immediate investigation into incidents of rhino poaching in Kaziranga this week by a team from the bureau. She said the investigation should be completed within one week and the perpetrators brought to justice.
“They have suggested setting up a joint control room to expedite investigation. This is a good suggestion and we can act on this,” a senior forest official said. The team comprises C. Behera, A.K. Jha, L. Kuruvilla and K.K. Sarma. The team will also seek assistance from local agencies in detailed investigation of the case and conduct inter-agency co-ordination to trace the culprits and bust the networks involved. “We will provide them all the help from our side so that the investigation can be brought to a logical end,” he said.
The official said the team today visited a number of places in Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong where the incidents have occurred to get an idea of how they have been committed.
One of the main duties of the bureau is to collect and collate intelligence related to organised wildlife crime activities and to disseminate the same to state and other enforcement agencies for immediate action so as to apprehend the criminals and to establish a centralised wldlife crime data bank.
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