Guwahati: The director of Kaziranga National Park of Assam, M Ali, has been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty as he had allegedly expressed his ignorance over a Rhino poaching incident in the Park that took place during the visit of the state Forest minister Promila Rani Brahma to the Park on June 7 last.
The director allegedly tried to cover up after local TV channels aired that a rhino had been poached and its horn taken away by poachers from Agoratoli Range of the national park on the day the forest minister was holding meeting with the park officials there discussing steps for checking unabated poaching of the rhino.
State Forest minister Promila Rani Brahma said here that the director of KNP, M Ali, has been placed under suspension with immediate effect. She said the director’s connivance is suspected in failing to inform her about a rhino poaching incident in the Park during her stay there recently.
Brahma had wanted to visit the site of the poaching as reported in local media, but the director was unable to arrange for her conveyance and had claimed no rhino had been killed.
However, after the minister’s departure and under constant media pressure, Ali was forced to reveal that a rhino was indeed killed when the minister was on a visit to Kaziranga Park. Brahma said an inquiry will be conducted against Ali. Besides Ali, the range officer of of Agoratoli Range, Salim Ahmed has been meted out a punishment transfer. Brahma, who assumed office of the Forest and Environment minister last month, had vowed to act tough against poachers and preserve the diverse flora and fauna of the state. She was peeved that forest official in Kaziranga Park feigned ignorance about the rhino poaching incident while the media had all the details about it.
