Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar visited the interiors of the park on a motor boat.
Union Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday made his first visit to Assam's Kaziranga National Park that is home to the largest population of the endangered one horned rhino in the world. Poaching at the park has become a big problem over the years; 22 rhinos have been killed just this year so far.
For the union minister, the first hands-on initiation into just how tough it is for forest rangers to keep an eye out for poachers in the vast park happened as he took a motor boat out to the interiors of the park. He was accompanied by top officials of the Assam forest department and the Kaziranga National Park.
Recent flooding in the park has inundated all anti-poaching camps, helping poachers who kill rhinos and sell their horns in international markets for millions of rupees.
At the park, and earlier in Guwahati, the minister was repeatedly urged by various civil society groups to initiate a CBI enquiry into the killings. Some groups alleged the involvement of park officials. "They are not protesting the forests but are allowing poachers to enter and also give them shelter," says animal rights activist Hemchandra Bora.
In the last two years, security at Kaziranga has been scaled up - a dedicated anti-poaching squad is now posted at the park. The administration has also experimented with drones to keep an eye on poachers. However, with the terrain spread over a very large area, crisscrossed by hills and rivers, park officials insist their best efforts are sometimes futile.
Promising action, Mr Javadekar told mediapersons at Kaziranga, "We will get to the root of it. We will come up with a concrete plan."
Till that plan kicks in, everyone at Kaziranga is hoping more rhinos will not be killed.