New Delhi, May 23: Incredible as it may seem, only eight forest personnel man the 500-square km Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram.

Located in the western part of the state and skirting the Indo-Bangladesh border, the sanctuary is a treasure-trove of biodiversity. But in a move that could have serious consequences, the Mizoram government recently terminated the services of the entire temporary staff employed by the forest department.

Forest departments across the states are heavily dependent on temporary staff. The strength of the forest department contingent at the Dampa reserve was 38 as on April 1, but barring the eight permanent employees, the state government retrenched everybody recently.

Officials say such drastic reduction in staff will not only leave large sections of the reserve vulnerable to poachers, but also embolden smugglers and militants to sneak in from across the international border.

Field director H. Lianmawia admitted the impossibility of the task of maintaining the reserve with an eight-member staff. In a letter to the chief wildlife warden of the state, he said the “minimum requirement” of field staff and guards was 45.

Lianmawia cited the “remoteness” of the reserve, “unhealthy climatic conditions and presence of extremists” as factors that necessitated round-the-clock surveillance.

Dampa was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1974 and included in the tiger reserve network in 1994. It is home to exotic species of animals and birds, including the spectacled monkey, phayres leaf monkey, hoolock gibbon, pheasants and big cats. Forest minister Lalchamliana said the retrenchment of forest staff was a fiscal exigency. “It is not that we are unaware about the possible implications. We need more funds to maintain the tiger reserve and will re-employ the temporary staff as soon as we can.”

Lalchamliana said chief minister Zoramthanga was “exploring the possibility” of sanctioning funds for the sanctuary from the state plan. On the possibility of militants and poachers targeting the sanctuary, he said security was not an issue. “The sanctuary was under threat from militants till about two years ago, when members of the Bru National Liberation Front and poachers from Bangladesh and Tripura frequented the area.”

The Wildlife Trust of India, which had recently trained the sanctuary staff, refused to buy the argument. “During our last visit there, we noticed extensive felling and jhum within the park. The forest department did not have the strength of numbers to prevent this,” its programme director, Aniruddha Mukherjee, said.

Officials of the Project Tiger directorate shared Mukherjee’s concern. “We are willing to provide funds for the reserve and have written to the chief secretary, asking him to provide us with estimates of the expenditure likely to be incurred in re-employing the daily wagers,” Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal said.