Javadekar promises to speed up CBI probe over rhino poaching

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar Friday assured to speed up the CBI probe into the poaching of Assam's one-horned rhinos.

"I am going to find out what is the status of the CBI probe into the (rhino) poaching," Javadekar, who also holds the information and broadcasting portfolio, said here interacting with individuals and organisations.

"Even if there is no progress, on my return to New Delhi, I am going to meet Union Home Minister Ranjath Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking their intervention in having a CBI probe on the issue," he said.

The minister, who embarked on a two-day visit to the state Friday, also interacted with nature lovers, civil society groups and wildlife conservation NGOs at Patgaon area in Kamrup.

Stressing on the need to involve of local people in conservation activities, he said there was a need to turn conservation activities into a mass movement involving the local people and then only conservation activities will be successful.

He also assured the people that the central government will arrange for organising skill development programmes for them so that they can involve themselves in tourism activities and earn while taking part in conservation activities.

"We are going to organise the skill development training programmes from Sep 25 this year," he said.

Earlier, wildlife conservation NGO Nature's Beckon submitted a memorandum to the minister at Patgaon, demanding that the CBI probe should cover all the wildlife crimes in Assam.

All Assam Students' Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya also met the minister and appealed him to save the Kaziranga national park, a Unesco world heritage site, from encroachment and steps to protect the rhinos - the pride of Assam.

Poaching has become one of the major concerns for the authorities at the park and other protected areas in Assam. A total of 23 one-horned rhinos have been killed by poachers in this year - out of which 22 were killed in Kaziranga alone.

In 2008, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had announced to hand over the investigation of the rhino poaching cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation. But the status of the decision in not known.