India Forest Guards Threatened
11/23/99
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Title: INDIA Forest Guards Threatened
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 23, 1999
DEHRA DUN, India, November 23, 1999 (ENS) - The recent murder of
three forest guards has forest employees in the Dehra Dun division of
the Indian Forest Service demanding the government take measures to
protect them.
In a memorandum to the state government, the guards said the entire
forest staff felt threatened by a reign of terror by illegal loggers,
referred to locally as the forest mafia. Mafia members are believed
to be responsible for the illegal felling of trees and smuggling of
animal parts from the nearby Rajaji National Park.
Two weeks ago, forest mafia members allegedly beat to death forest
guards Aftab Hussein, Asghar Ali, and Udai Singh Pawar, the Times of
India reported.
An unaccounted number of brutal attacks on forest staff have been
reported in the Dehra Dun and Hardwar regions of the foothill forest
areas. In Hardwar alone, 15 cases have been reported over the past
three years.
Forest officials say they are helpless against the well-armed and
established mafia. The forest guards have requested special
magisterial powers and arms to bolster security within the fragile
forests of the sub-Himalayan region.
Yet some senior members of the Indian Forest Service say that the
influence of undisclosed parties is interfering with the management
of the forest.
Forest guards who recently used their weapons against poachers were
prosecuted. In protest, some of he guards handed over their weapons
to the government.