CM provides automatic rifles to Assam's tiger reserves to curb poaching

GUWAHATI: Kaziranga National Park (KNP) along with other rhino habitats and tiger reserves in the state got a fresh lot of automatic firearms on Sunday, adding more teeth to the world heritage sites’ anti-poaching drive.
Home to world’s two-third population of one-horned rhinos, Kaziranga has been bearing the maximum brunt of poachers who kills the pachyderms for their horns which are in high demand in international illicit market for wildlife body parts.Vietnam and China are major consumers of rhino horn where it is used in traditional cures.
Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal handed over about 1,482 different calibres of automatic firearms to the forest department at a formal function in Kaziranga’s Kohra area.
Assam chief wildlife warden, N K Vasu said that the quantum of weapons to be distributed among tiger reserves, rhino habitats and other protected areas would be worked out later.
Except Nameri National Park (NNP), KNP, Manas National Park (MNP) and Orang National Park (ONP) are tiger reserves as well as rhino habitat. Pobitora wildlife sanctuary is also a rhino habitat, while NNP is a tiger reserve.
Among the firearms included 272 pieces of INSAS rifles, 954 numbers of SLRs, 133 numbers of 12 bore pump action guns, 20 piece s of 9mm pistols and 91 ghatak rifles. The firearms were later distributed among frontline forest personnel from different protected areas.
Sonowal said that the state government has allocated Rs 10 crore in the 2017-18 budget for procuring more automatic firearms.
The weapons that were distributed on Sunday were procured from Rs 10 Crore allocated in the 2016-17 state budget for purchase of modern arms for forest department under ‘modernization of firearms scheme for tiger reserves and rhino habitats.
Chief minister hoped with modern firearms forest personnel would be able to curb the menace of poaching that has emerged as a big challenge to wildlife conservation in the state.
KNP alone lost six rhinos to poachers this year so far, while last year at least 15 rhinos were poached in Kaziranga.
Acknowledging that forest guards have to execute duties in extremely difficult situation, Sonowal assured of taking measures to address their grievances.