After many years of having supervised anti-poaching operations from plush offices and failed to make a difference, the environment ministry has decided to adopt a ‘grassroots’ approach. It will set up a dedicated intelligence unit, members of which will live inside jungles and work with villagers to track down poachers.
For starters, the intelligence unit will have 45 members, mainly inspectors and deputy superintendents of police, said an official from the environment ministry. Several officials are excited about the move, because for the first time they would be able to see and feel for themselves whatever is happening on the ground.
“We have a small unit and this step will let our officers actually stay and work onsite,” said the official. “We usually make flying visits to wildlife reserves but with this, our men will be able to keep in touch with people living in forests, forest officials and gather information from them,” said a senior official of the ministry.
Members of this intelligence team will be chosen on their ability to speak the local language, as this will help them strike up a rapport with the local people. The ministry will also show preference to local state cadre members. “We have asked the states to choose and send those officers who can speak their local language well. The final selection will depend on how comfortable these men are in their mother tongue and how much knowledge they have on the people living in jungles,” said the ministry official.
“It is very important to be on good terms with villagers living near the reserves because they are the sources of information, and they are the ones who can lead us to the poachers.”
In the past four years, poachers have used villagers for information on routes and sightings in Sariska, Ranthambore and Kaziranga reserves. The intel team has been specially tasked with protecting tigers, elephants and rhinos because these animals are most susceptible to poachers.
In 2007, there were 1,411 tigers in the 37 reserves of the country, but the ministry believes that the present figure could be around 1,300 because of poaching and tigers deaths.
