Guwahati, March 24: The anti-poaching Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police, which was formed to prevent wildlife crimes especially rhino-poaching, in and around Kaziranga National Park (KNP) today received a shot in its efforts when it was provided with a new Mahindra Bolero 4WD vehicle.
Premier bio-diversity conservation and research organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) in association with the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) provided the four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicle to the office of the Additional Superintendent of Police (STF), KNP to bolster the efforts to check rhino poaching and other wildlife crimes in and around the national park (NP) known as the abode of one-horned rhinoceros and tagged as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The meeting organised on the occasion at Kohora Police Guest House in the KNP was attended by the new Director of KNP, Jatindra Sarma, Divisional Forest Officer of Eastern Assam Wildlife Division (EAWL), Ramesh Gogoi, Additional SP (STF) Kaziranga NP, Dhruba Jyoti Nath, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Bokakhat, Ms. Anita Hazarika, Range officer of Central Range of Kaziranga, Bibhuti Ranjan Gogoi, Secretary General and CEO of Aaranyak, Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Consultant of the IRF, Rahul Dutta, and Manager of Rhino Research and Conservation Division of Aaranyak,Md. Arif Hussain,
The new vehicle was formally handed over to Additional SP (STF), Kaziranga NP.
Jatindra Sarma, Director of the KNP, appreciated the team work that is in practice in Kaziranga NP among government agencies and civil society organisations like Aaranyak.
Ramesh Gogoi, DFO-EAWL division, underlined the need to further enhance mobility of forest and STF personnel and said the vehicle provided by Aaranyak to the office of the Additional SP (STF) KNP was a timely one.
Dhruba Jyoti Nath, Additional SP (STF), Kaziranga NP mentioned that Assam Police set up a new office under STF of Assam Police under the charge an Additional SP based in Bokakhat to check wildlife crimes in and around Kaziranga NP covering about five districts. He said the vehicle provided today would help his team to speed up efforts.
SDPO-Bokakhat Ms. Anita Hazarika mentioned that Aaranyak earlier provided one Bolero camper to Golaghat District Police which she and her staffs have been using in Bokakhat Sub Division in the last couple of years to check rhino poaching and other offences.
The CEO and Aaranyak, Dr Bibhab Talukdar, who is also the Senior Advisor to the International Rhino Foundation for Asian Rhinos, reiterated Aaranyak’s commitment to complement the efforts of police and forest officials to check wildlife crime and illegal trade in wildlife which is the fourth largest illegal trade in the world.
Aaranyak earlier provided at least three 4WD vehicles to Kaziranga NP and two 4WD vehicles to Orang NP in association with the IRF, three vehicles to Manas NP, eight motorbikes to Kaziranga NP in association with IRF and the US-based Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), four motorbikes to newly-designated Raimona NP, two motorbikes to the newly-designated Dehing Patkai NP, two motorbikes to Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary and four motorbikes to Golaghat Police in association with NABU International and two motorbikes to Karbi Anglong District Police in association with the IRF.
By Bijay Sankar Bora