NTCA finds TG, AP fall far short in staff for tiger protection

HYDERABAD: Close on the heels of the recent major case filed in Maharashtra against a well-organised gang of poachers targeting tigers in various states, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), in a stock taking exercise, has found that the two Telugu states have large number of frontline staff vacancies in their tiger reserves.

While Telangana’s Kawal and Amrabad tiger reserves have been found to have a 41.61 per cent vacancy rate among tiger protection frontline staff, for Andhra Pradesh, this number was at 62.17 per cent.

It may be recalled that officials who investigated the case filed in Maharashtra in March, had found that one of the kingpins of the poaching gang had stayed at Bellampalli in Mancherial district and some of his associated had been to the Kawal tiger reserve. It was also found that at least the trail of one financial transaction related to tiger parts occurred in Kakinada.

According to an NTCA official, the enumerating of strength of personnel was done for all tiger reserves to impress upon the states to ensure the required staff was available in the reserves as per tiger management plans.

“This is not happening in most states. The emphasis is on filling up the vacancies, but there is also the challenge of finding people willing to work in wildlife areas, which can be a 24x7 job, and is hard work,” the official said.

The NTCA is also working on a plan for increased vigilance in tiger-bearing areas, forests which are not notified sanctuaries or reserves but where tigers are present, as in the case of tiger corridor forests in the KB Asifabad and Mancherial districts of Telangana, or the more recent tiger presence forests with the big cats in search of territories spilling over to Mulugu and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts.

Incidentally, Kawal did not record any resident tiger for the past several years. “This is due to the severe disturbance in the reserve in the form of villages and human activity, including podu activities for which the Telangana government has issued a large number of pattas,” the official said.

According to a Telangana forest department official, one of the problems in filling frontline posts in tiger reserves was that when the recruitment exams are held, the candidates who get through have higher education levels with the ability to crack the exams compared to the 10+2 level required for the post of a forest beat officer, a designated frontline employee.

“Many of those who get selected as FBOs come, join, and quit soon after and the vacancy stays. Instead, the exams for such posts should be such that those applying for them can be gauged for their knowledge of the forests which will help local tribals with the minimum education level required, can get through. These folks will stay put in those jobs unlike some of those with engineering degrees recruited in the recent past but quit soon after,” the official said.