Tiger protection force to be raised in Uttarakhand

P.S. Chauhan

In compliance with the directive of the National Tigers Conservation Authority the state government has decided to raise a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF). Out of the total tiger population of 1411 in the country, there are about 200 tigers in the forests of the state, including 164 in the Jim Corbett National Park alone. The sources in the forest department say that there will be three platoons in the company of the STPF which will be led by a forest official of the rank of a serving assistant forest conservator of forests, while the platoons will be led by the officers of the rank of the forest rangers and will be designated as the Tiger Force Range Officers. Every platoon will consist of six tiger force foresters and 30 special tiger forest guards (commandos). The chief principal conservator of forests of the sate, R.B.S. Rawat said that 60 posts of the special tiger forest guards would be filled up by direct recruitment, whereas 30 would be filled up by the locals and the youths from the Van Gujjar community in the age group of 18-21. After the attainment of the age of 40 by these special tiger forest guards, they will be absorbed in the regular services of the forest department and the vacancies thus caused will again be filled up. The personnel of the STPF will be provided special training and equipments. The entire expenses incurred on the STPF will be borne by the central government.

Platinum Jubilee

Jim Corbett National park, the oldest national park in the country, is going to celebrate its platinum jubilee in 2011 with great fanfare. The park, established in 1936, was first named as Hailey National Park and was rechristened as the Ram Ganga National Park in 1954. Finally, in 1955 the park was designated as Jim Corbett National Park after the name of Jim Corbett, the legendary hunter and conservator of wild life, who passed most of his life in this region. The park is known all over the world for its density of tiger population. Besides tigers, there is also a good population of elephants and other species of wild life. A committee under the chairmanship of Subhash Kumar, the additional chief secretary of the state and commissioner for rural development, has been constituted to draw up programme for the celebration of the platinum jubilee. Subhash Kumar said that eminent personalities, specially those working in the field of wild life conservation, would participate in the platinum jubilee celebrations.