More heads may roll over tiger deaths in Sariska

home

April 3, 2005. JAIPUR:
The suspension of Rajasthan's chief wildlife warden Arun Sen has opened a Pandora's box of speculations, with there being talk at the Van Bhawan, the headquarters of the state forest department, about the rolling of a few more heads connected with the Sariska Tiger Reserve. So far, seven employees of the Sariska reserve, besides Sen, have been suspended.

Smarting from the punishment dished out to him, Sen said, "What surprised me was the government order, which ignored the officers responsible for the missing tigers of Sariska. These officers were involved in the Project Tiger and were responsible for the maintenance of the reserve. They were not touched and I was singled out. I shall appeal against the suspension at an appropriate level."

Rajasthan Forest Rangers' Association president B S Nathawat said the government should have suspended the field director, deputy field director, assistant director, and two research officers posted at Sariska who were directly responsible for looking after the tigers. They should have been held responsible for keeping the chief wildlife warden in dark.

Nathawat also opposed the suspension of the seven junior employees, saying they were not directly responsible for the tigers.

"Crores are spent on conservation of tigers and an annual grant of Rs 1.5 crore is received by Sariska Tiger Project. What was amazing was how crores were spent on conservation of tigers which were non-existent" he said.