Ek Tha Tiger: Officials warned department before poachers killed ST5 at Sariska Tiger Reserve

Could the poaching of Tigress ST5 at Sariska Tiger Reserve have been averted? Highly placed sources reveal that officials had been warning the Chief Wildlife Warden and the top brass of the forest department at regular intervals about inadequacy of the security apparatus and staff at Sariska. Letters have been written to senior officials regarding the “increasing activities of villagers and poachers around the park”, however to no avail. Now, in quick succession, two tigers have fallen prey to poaching activities.

Over the past two years, the administrative officials in charge of managing the Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) have shot several letters to their superiors at Aranya Bhawan in Jaipur informing them of the pathetic state of affairs at Sariska and the disharmony between staff along with the ever growing pressure from the villagers living within the park and on its fringes.

“There are primarily two types of problems at STR. The first major issue is of staff. For more than a year now, posts of rangers and ACF are lying vacant. On top of that most of the officers that have been posted here are of DCF level who are not keen on working in this challenging environment,” a highly placed official in the thick of things told DNA. Most of the staff has houses and families in Jaipur and as a result for three to four days they camped in Jaipur.

“The foot soldiers were also drawn mainly from Jaipur. When the senior officials weren’t in place, they too would leave their posts and park themselves at Jaipur,” the official said, adding, “There is a shortage of forest guard and cattle guards as well. So, the entire park was devoid of its protector and thus the poachers became active.” Sariska is infested with communities traditional involved in hunting to make ends meet and this practice has passed on to their younger generations without any political will to get them out of their misery.

“The second is the issue of the Tiger Protection Force. The forest department had to set up force for Ranthambhore and Sariska in which 110 men were to be deployed in each park. They were to counter poaching activities.

The NTCA had given its approval in the matter and the money was also deposited with Rajasthan police that was to train the unit in tactical methods that could be used in counter poaching activities. But the force for Sariska could never be formed. For the past three years, the force with 110 men unit is posted in Ranthambhore however Sariksa hasn’t received its allotted unit.

The Chief Wildlife Warden was asked at least thirty men from the Ranthambhore unit so that at least some security can be provided but nothing happened,” another official from the state forest department said, adding, “About three months after the first formal request, a panther at Sariska turned man-eater and for some time few members of the team were posted there. However, as soon as that panther was captured, the men were sent back to Ranthambhore. That unit is idle at Ranthambhore and the current situation could have been averted had they been allowed to camp here.”

“The condition in Sariska is pathetic. I met the minister and the Chief Wildlife Warden and requested them to post capable staff in as many vacant positions as possible. I also requested to initiate the protocol to bring tigers to Sariska as had been decided by the Empowered Committee, however the condition has deteriorated,” says Rajpal Singh, Member – National Tiger Conservation Authority, Government of India.

The sorry state of affairs

Posts of rangers and ACF lying vacant for over a year
Officers spend more time with family at Jaipur than in filed even during working days.
Non-formation of Sariska Tiger Protection Force even after directed by the NTCA, GoI.
Regular letters handed to concerned official at Jaipur did not meet the desired action.

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