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BJP delaying probe into poaching: Congress

Special Correspondent

`Shielding the guilty Government officials and criminal gangs'

JAIPUR: The Opposition Congress in Rajasthan on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government, accusing it of protecting an international racket instrumental in the disappearance of tigers in the world-famous Sariska wildlife sanctuary and deliberately delaying a full-fledged inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the tiger poaching.

"The BJP regime, by not giving the mandatory permission to the CBI for carrying out an elaborate investigation to look into the extinction of tigers, is trying to cover up its own negligence and shield the Government officials and criminal gangs responsible for hunting of the wild cat," Chandrashekhar Baid, chief spokesperson of Congress, said in a statement issued here.

A preliminary probe by the CBI, launched on the directions of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has hinted at the involvement of a notorious gang having links with international smugglers. "The inquiry has revealed that tigers were shot at by the hunters from a raised platform erected in the dense forests," Dr. Baid pointed out while lambasting the State Government for failing to save tigers in the protected sanctuary.

The Centre had recently made a requisition to the Rajasthan Government for giving permission to the CBI to launch a thorough probe into the nexus of different criminal gangs in the tiger poaching case as well as the conspiracy aspect. However, the State Government has not given any indication of according the mandatory permission to the premier investigating agency as yet.

Dr. Baid - also a Congress MLA - alleged that the State Government had constituted a task force and two committees, one after the other since February last, to shield the culprits. "The BJP-led Government took no steps for conservation of tigers from September 2004 to March 2005 despite authentic reports of tigers' disappearance coming from Sariska," he said.

The Congress leader pointed out that while four members of the task force on tigers had dissociated themselves from it following the allegations of its politicisation, the State Government did not make any move on the report of the R.N. Mehrotra Committee which had recommended departmental action against the field officers posted at the sanctuary in 2003.

The latest committee appointed on tigers is headed by the Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Alka Kala. It will look into the aspect of departmental lapses, if any, resulting in the extinction of tigers from Sariska.

Dr. Baid called upon the State Government to accord permission to CBI without delay to facilitate commencement of investigations and said the failure to do so would confirm the charge that the BJP regime wants to conceal its negligence and disregard for the wildlife. The State had already faced embarrassment at the global level following the loss of the wild cat, he added.

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