Patna, Dec. 7: A senior IPS officer has blown the whistle on the illegal sale of protected birds at the Sonepur fair.
Amitabh Kumar Das, an IPS officer of the 1994 batch currently serving as assistant commissioner in the state's civil defence wing, has written a letter to the Saran police superintendent asking him to take action against traders selling these birds at the fair. Sale of protected birds is prohibited under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, but trade goes on at the Chiriya Bazaar located at the fair ground.
The month-long fair, which will end on December 13, is often used by illegal wildlife traders to openly sell protected species of wildlife.
Talking to The Telegraph, Das said: "I had gone to the Sonepur fair for inspection work. However, I was surprised to see that all exotic and endangered species of birds were on sale at the fair. When I asked one Ram Ji Singh - the administrator of Chiriya Bazaar - how these birds were being sold despite a ban on them, Singh replied that he had given 'money' to the higher-ups in the administration to let the sale go unhindered."
"I don't know who are these higher-ups being paid by the traders dealing in rare birds," Das said.
"This should be investigated. I have written a letter to Saran SP Pankaj Kumar Raj and also spoken to him personally on telephone. I apprised the SP of the rampant illegal trade going on at Sonepur. He assured me that all necessary action will be taken in this regard," Das said.
Raj, the Saran police chief under whose watch the fair is being held, said today: "I have directed the station-house-officer (SHO) concerned to take action against those involved in illegal trade."
But Sonepur SHO Arun Malakar said the police did not find any illegal trade in protected species of birds. "I had visited the fair on December 5 after getting an order from the SP's office. However, I did not find any such birds being sold at the fair whose sale has been banned. Even then, we are a keeping a close vigil and if any trader is found selling illegal birds, an FIR would be lodged," Malakar told The Telegraph.
Animal traders told this paper that bird sale did happen. "Just outside the fair premises, the state forest department has erected a few hoardings regarding ban on sale of rare birds, but nobody really bothers about it. The bird traders seem to have an unwritten rule ensuring that they keep away from the fair on the inauguration day so that the authorities can inspect the market and certify that it is free from the 'illegal wildlife trade,'" a trader said on condition of anonymity.
Protected birds that are sold are owls, shikras, black shouldered kites, peregrine falcons, munias, hill mynas, bank mynas and green pigeons, this trader said. "There is nothing visibly, or even possibly invisibly, done out there by the enforcement agencies or administration to ensure that the highly protected wildlife is not traded here, other than putting up an informative hoarding, of course. I have never heard of any cases of wildlife being confiscated and I wonder how traders bring in thousands of birds in hundreds of cages and go unnoticed by the authorities. The main provider of indigenous birds to the Sonepur fair is the Nakhas Market located in Lucknow and the Mir Shikar Toli in Patna," the trader said.
State tourism minister Anita Devi could not be reached for comment in spite of repeated calls. Managing director, Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation, Uma Shankar Prasad said: "I am unaware of the issue. However, we will look into it."
