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Dhara village is poachers’ refuge?

Banshi, a poacher, was nabbed near Kalagarh by the forest department. Knives and steel traps that he used to trap and kill tigers were also recovered. The accused had arrived from Dhara village in Bijnor district of UP. 

Forest department officials now suspect that Dhara village, located near the Kalagarh range of Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), is becoming a safe haven for poachers. 

Last year, around 12 poachers were arrested from Amangarh Forest Reserve by the Special Task Force and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau with two tiger skins. One of the poachers arrested, Kartar Singh, was the man who assembled all the poachers and also provided them shelter. Police suspect that the brain behind much of the poaching is a man called Amarnath Singh, who belongs to the Sapera community. Amarnath Singh is absconding.

Rajender Aggarwal, founder-president of the NGO Wildlife Protection Society of India, said, "Till now, people of three communities, Bavaria, Sapera and Kunjar, have been seen to be involved in poaching. Bavarias have their base in Samalkha, Haryana. A fourth community, Gujjars, who have been living inside the forest areas, have been providing information about the movement of tigers to these three communities. Last year, on December 16, Kartar Singh a native of Dhara village, was found to be involved in the crime, much to the shock of forest and wildlife officials in both UP and Uttarkhand. A plan to kill two tigers was being hatched. With the second arrest from the village, of Banshi, there is good reason to suspect that villagers are thickly involved in poaching." 

In the last three years, at least 51 tigers and 441 leopards have been killed by poachers in Uttarakhand. Only two days ago, the carcass of a seven-year-old tiger was recovered from the West Terai Forest Division in Ramnagar. The tiger's body parts had been removed with a sharp weapon. 

Chief wildlife warden SS Sharma told TOI, "The department has certainly become vigilant about the involvement of people living in the Dhara village in poaching related activities. We are keeping a close watch on the suspicious elements living in the village through our intelligence wing."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...871845.cms
 

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