GUWAHATI, Sept 8: Personnel of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) based at Sonapur near here were today facilitated with an exposure to the global trend of burgeoning wildlife crimes that have transcended frontiers across the globe and demanded focused attention of border guarding forces for mitigation.
Northeast India’s frontline biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak in collaboration with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) today conducted a workshop for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel based at ITBP’s 33 Battalion Unit at Sonapur. This was first such workshop conducted by Aaranyak-WCCB for ITBP on wildlife crime.
Assistant Commandants of 33 Bn ITBP, Ashish Singh, Janardan Pagar and Ajay Potbhare inaugurated the workshop which was attended by 30 frontline staffs including from constables to inspectors.
Dr. Jimmy Borah, Senior Manager – Legal and Advocacy Division (LAD), Aaranyak explained about wildlife crime and the its extent globally. He stressed on how illegal wildlife crime is connected with national security and economy of a country, and how border agencies can help mitigate or check the wildlife crime and illegal trade in wildlife parts in various key locations in Assam and North-east India, particularly in respect of cross border illegal trade.
Hiten Bora, Intelligence assistant with WCCB talked about legal aspects and different sections under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to effectively reduce wildlife crime and trade. He explained in details regarding modus operandi of a hunter and the crimes. Nabajit Barman and Kangkan Kaushik Goswami from WCCB demonstrated various wildlife products commonly found in markets.
Ashish Singh in his speech thanked Aaranyak and WCCB for conducting the sensitization workshop. He mentioned that the workshop was helpful for ITBP as almost all the BOPs of ITBP are present along the national parks or PA’s starting from Ladakh till Arunachal Pradesh, which makes it more important for frontline staffs as well as for all officers to understand about wildlife and crimes related to it.
He assured that even if ITBP is a Central Armed Police Force, it would not only protect borders but contribute more towards preservation and restoration of natural resources and biodiversity of India.