Bengal Forest Minister ready to don a disguise to nab wildlife criminals

West Bengal Forest Minister Rajib Banerjee, on Saturday, decided that if necessary he will don a disguise to directly take the party in operations to curb wildlife crimes in the state.

Banerjee known for his passionate and often outspoken approach to work said at a recent Forest Department program in Bankura district said that despite issues such as lack of manpower his department will go to any length to nab wildlife criminals.

“I will not think twice to dawn a disguise to take part in operations to curb wildlife crimes. With a shortage of manpower, the odds may be stacked against us. But we will not back down from risking our lives to save forests and wildlife,” said Banerjee.

He said that the loss of human lives in conflict with animals was as unfortunate as the death of animals at the hands of humans. As for Bankura district, Banerjee said that deaths due to the man-animal conflict have recently declined and he wants no ensure that no such deaths take place in the state in future.

“ Our aim is to ensure that there are no deaths in man-animal conflict in the state and no one loses his or her livelihood. Despite issues such as staff shortage, lack of beat offices and vehicles we are working to the best of their abilities,” said Banerjee.

Apart from specially built Airavat vehicles to tackle elephants the Forest Department is planning to provide a large number of motorbikes to its staff for regular patrolling.

“ We have already provided state of the art Airavat vehicles to our officials. Now we are planning to provide motorbikes to our staff members for patrolling and to ensure that they can reach a crime scene quickly,” said Banerjee.