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Pench tigress release mired in red tape

The already belated move to relocate Pench tigress into its natural habitat seems to be turning into a futile exercise due to inordinate delays by the government institutions, which otherwise should support the national cause.

Three tigers, two females and a male, around 5 years, are being trained to hunt in captivity in a four hectare enclosure in Pench tiger reserve. The 6-month-old cubs were rescued from Dhaba forest range in Gondpipri (Chandrapur) in September 2009.

Lot of time was wasted in release of the cubs since then owing to lack of quick decision making. It was only in January 2014, when a three-member NTCA team gave a green signal for intensive pre-release monitoring of one tigress which is doing extremely well.

Even as the NTCA team granted a go-ahead to release one tigress, as per its own protocol assigning a satellite radio collar is mandatory before release.

The A&S Creations, Delhi, who is authorized distributor for radio collars, has even procured one for the Pench tigress from Germany, but since February 6, the collar is lying with the customs department and held up for want of some 'flimsy' clearances despite being pointed out by authorities that the collar will be tagged to a tigress.

The bottleneck in importing a radio collar is that as customs classifies it under restricted category that needs a specific import licence from director general of foreign trade (DGFT) and further a licence from wireless planning & coordination (WPC) wing of the ministry of communications after getting clearance from the ministry of environment & forests (MoEF).

Documents in possession to show that A&S Creations has been writing to WPC since February 12, and pursuing the authorities to give a go-ahead to clear the radio collar which is for Pench tigress. The firm has also drawn attention of NTCA.

NTCA joint director SP Yadav was not available for comments. "Earlier, the NTCA had delayed release of tigress by not responding early to the letters written by state wildlife wing officials," a retired APCCF told.

Even as the A&S Creations communicated with the DGFT and ministry of communications on February 12, the first response from the DGFT came only March 13, sating that it has to submit application form for import of restricted items along with grant of import authorization. The WPC also asked the firm on March 21, to follow the licencing requirements under the Telegraph Act 1885.

However, directors of A&S Creations say, "We have received orders for seven radio collars out of which one for Pench has arrived. We have imported several radio collars earlier. If the procedures as prescribed by both WPC and DGFT are followed it would taken an year to get the collar released from the customs."

Radio collar expert and wildlife biologist Vidya Athreya warns if the collar is stranded for long the battery may drain off to a significant extent even if it has an on and off switch. "Why should it take so long. Many tigers have been collared in India but there seems to be no security threat," she said. A government department is seeking permission from another government department then why the issue, she added.

Joint wireless adviser to the central government RB Prasad said, "We have not delayed the process. The firm will have to come with an import licence. We have already cleared our stand."

However, even as the NTCA panel recommendations had brightened hope for a unique experiment, red tape seems to have dashed all hopes.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...059540.cms
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