Guwahati, Sep 26: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has dismissed allegations that he and spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev violated the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, by entering Kaziranga National Park for a night safari last Saturday.
“There has been no violation. According to wildlife law, the warden can give permission to enter a protected area even during the night,” the chief minister claimed, when confronted by mediapersons.
A section of residents of the area, led by two local activists, had filed complaint at Bokakhat police station (in Golaghat district) against chief minister Sarma, Sadhguru and Assam minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, alleging that they had taken the jeep safari inside the national park beyond the scheduled visit time on Saturday.
The activists claimed that the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, prohibits safari tours inside the national park after a scheduled time to protect the animals and keep their habitat relatively untouched.
Meanwhile, M.K Yadava, principal chief conservator of Forest (PCCF), Assam and chief wildlife warden, reacting to the incident said that the forest department had invited Sadhguru, the chief minister and the Cabinet minister to the park for a jeep safari.
“As the chief wildlife warden, I have been authorised to permit the guests to invite them to the park. All the guests were invited by us and park and senior forest officials had accompanied them. So it will be inappropriate to say that Sadhguru and our chief minister had violated the law by taking the night safari at the park,” Yadava said.
It may be mentioned that Sadhguru Vasudev, who had arrived at Kaziranga to inaugurate the three-day Chintan Shivir organised by the state government, was seen driving a jeep during the jeep safari from Mihimukh which falls in the central range of the national park.
The jeep safari by the spiritual guru and the chief minister had also marked the formal reopening of the national park for tourists on Saturday.
Safaris inside the national park, home to the one-horned rhinoceros, are generally prohibited after sunset as it disturbs the wildlife.