Sunday, Feb 20, 2005
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Assam
GUWAHATI, FEB 19. The Assam Forest Minister, Pradyut Bardoloi, today slammed animal activist and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi for "baselessly charging" the state government with cruelty to elephants. Maneka Gandhi, along with some other NGOs like Natures Beckon, had alleged that the Assam government, especially the forest ministry, was treating cruelly the elephants during the annual elephant festival held on February 11 which this time coincided with the commencement of Kaziranga Centenary Celebration. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Bardoloi, along with the honorary Chief Warden (Elephant) Parbati Barua and other forest experts, slammed Maneka Gandhi and NGOs which ``have launched a disinformation campaign'' with regard to elephant festival. According to him, the capturing and taming of elephant was an "art exclusively to Assam from ancient India" and even in neighbouring countries like Thailand or far-away Sri Lanka, the language to command elephants by mahouts originated from Assam. Angry over the cancellation of the proposed football match by elephants during the festival in the midst of the cruelty campaign, Mr Bardoloi claimed that his department, while organising Kaziranga Centenary Celebration at a cost of Rs 25 lakhs, did not intend to use elephants as a tool of entertainment. He said promotion of elephant festival activities like football, dance and water is beneficial for the physique and mind of the pachyderms like all other living things. The festival is "not only a prestigious eco-social cult and cultural heritage of Assam, but also a time-tested model for man-animal co-existence.'' Mr Bardoloi wondered why Ms Gandhi was silent on the poor living conditions of over 30 elephants in and around the Jamuna river in Delhi. -- UNI
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