Victim had stopped car for elephants to cross the road in Bandipur
Representational image
Bengaluru: In a bizarre incident, a traveler who was passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, was verbally abused and threatened with wildlife cases against him by a group of wildlife enthusiasts.
The incident occurred on Saturday near Moolehole checkpost. The victim, Arul N, a resident of Sulthan Batheri in Kerala, stopped his car for a herd of elephants crossing the road. There were other two vehicles parked by the wayside in front of his car. At that moment a group of volunteers arrived in a Gypsy and started questioning Mr Arul. Arul narrated, “The group of boys claimed to be working for the government. Their vehicle bore a poster saying, on government duty.
“They started abusing me and threatened me with a Rs 5,000 fine for stopping and photographing the elephants. My friend, who was seated next to me, was taking a picture of the elephant herd on his cellphone. It’s something that every bus passenger does, when they pass along this road. This cannot be called an offence.”
He added that he and his friend did not even get down from the car. “I have been travelling on this road for many years and I am also associated with wildlife conservation work. I am aware of the do’s and don’ts of the way to behave in the forest. Though I tried to convince them, they wouldn’t listen and kept abusing me and telling me to drive back to Moolehole checkpost. By then I had contacted the wildlife experts in Karnataka and the volunteers finally decided to free me as the Ranger who was supposed to register cases on me never came to the checkpost,” he added.
Mr H.C. Kantharaj, director of the Bandipur Reserve, denied that any such incident had taken place at the Moolehole checkpost. “In fact the volunteers are helping us to manage the traffic on highways that pass through the tiger areas. A large number of vehicles stop on the road on weekends, when elephant movement is common. In such cases, the volunteers ensure that the vehicles do not stop on forest roads,” he said.
But the wildlife experts who are working closely with the Bandipur Tiger Reserve have a different tale to tell. “Most of the volunteers who are now trained by the Eco-tourism Board are more on a wildlife tour rather than doing any volunteering. These boys will never want to work in areas like BRT, Bhadra and in MM Hills. They want to live in forest rest houses in the tiger areas and drive their vehicles around in the name of volunteering. Their so-called ‘noble’ work is helping only them, not the forest,” said Mr R. Mallesh, a wildlife conservationist.
Another conservationist pointed out that the volunteer groups have also been ‘confiscating’ alcohol bottles from the vehicles while they are stopped at the check-posts.
“Consumption of alcohol in wildlife areas is a crime, but carrying alcohol is not. Most of these areas connect Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the other side and these volunteers are found taking away the bottles from private cars too.
“Last year, in one day about 80 bottles of liquor were seized at Melakamanahalli Gate in Bandipur. What happened to that booty? Does anyone have an account about who drank what?” questioned a wildlife expert from Mysore.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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