Alipurduar, Feb. 25: The forest department has decided to stop taking an entry fee from villagers on the fringes of Jaldapara National Park for using a road passing through the sanctuary in a bid to improve relations with them to crack down on poachers.
Five rhinos have been killed in Jaldapara in the last nine months by hunters for the animals' horns. Many wildlife activists have pointed out that the spurt in poaching was because of the deterioration of relations between the forest officials and the residents of hamlets located on the fringes of the park.
The villagers' main grouse was about the entry fee being charged since May 2013 for using the gate at the east range of Jaldapara.
Around 400 people from villages such as Natunpara, Malongi, Prodhan Para, Munshipara, Sidhabari and Suripara enter the forest through this gate and after travelling for 2km down a mud road, they reach an asphalted road outside the sanctuary that goes to Madarihat, 5km away.
"The villagers paid Rs 2 at the gate if they were on a bicycle. For motorbikes, the entry fee is Rs 5. No one is allowed to walk on the road inside the forest," said a forest officer.
The decision to withdraw the entry fee from March 1 was taken at a meeting between senior forest offers and the villagers.
The meeting was called to discuss the measures needed to protect the park.
Tapas Das, the conservator of forest, wildlife (north), said: "In the wake of recent incidents of rhino hunting, we realised that relations with the villagers needed to be improved. We have decided that no entry fee will be charged from the villagers from March 1. The step is to develop a good rapport with the villagers who can help us protect the forest."
The police have arrested four persons in connection with the recent poaching of rhinos in Jaldapara.
When poaching was rampant in Jaldapara in the mid-1980s, the number of rhinos had come down to 14. Later, the forest staff built a network with people living in the adjacent villages and managed to get rid of poachers. The rhino count went up to 200 and there was no case of poaching in Jaldapara from 1993 till 2009.
But in the recent past, relations between forest villagers and the guards took a dip after the entry fee was brought.
The villagers were annoyed that the decision on the fee had been taken without taking them into confidence.
On March 19 last year, a 1,000-strong mob vandalised the offices of Jaldapara east and west ranges and set a holiday home on fire.
The angry villagers smashed and turned turtle two jeeps and ransacked a school bus owned by the forest department.
The trigger of the rampage was an incident in which a Class XII boy couldn't appear for the board exam after he was allegedly assaulted by forest officers.
Khalek Islam, the secretary of Malongi Eco-Development Committee, said the decision to abolish the entry fee was a welcome step.
"We are ready to assist the forest department in conservation as we are proud of Jaldapara National Park. But the forest department should build an alternative road to reach Madarihat bypassing the national park. Otherwise, there are chances of hunters entering the forest through the existing road," he said.
