Poacher menace causing concern

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, AUG. 15. Conservationists have expressed concern over the killing of a member of the Bishnoi community by poachers in Osian tehsil of Jodhpur over the week-end. The gunning down of Mr. Ganga Ram Bishnoi of Chirai village by poachers when he tried to save a wild deer was yet another proof of continued poaching on wild animals in the desert region despite widespread uproar over a case of poaching involving Bollywood film stars two years ago in the region, they observe.

Only timely intervention by Mr. Ram Singh Vishnoi, the Rajasthan Minister for PHED and president of the All-India Bishnoi Mahasabha, saved the situation in the Chirai-Eklora villages from turning violent. The members of the Bishnoi community last Sunday had kept the body of Ganga Ram without allowing the authorities to take it to Jodhpur for post-mortem.

The locals were particularly agitated over the involvement of some influential persons in the team of poachers who had arrived in the area in three jeeps and were intercepted by the deceased, Ganga Ram. They had already shot dead one Chinkara, the Rajasthan's State animal and a species revered by the Bishnoi community.

According to the local people, in order to save the culprits, they had made a tribal, Pepa Ram, surrender after confessing to the crime. The villagers have identified at least four persons from the group of poachers, it is said.

The conservationists hailed Ganga Ram as yet another of the Bishnoi martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of conservation. ``Through his exemplary deed of self sacrifice, Shri Ganga Ram Bishnoi has earned a place for himself in the galaxy of great martyrs of the Bishnoi community who always embraced death to save the wild species'', said Mr. Harsh Vardhan, honorary general secretary of the Tourism and Wildlife Society of India(TWSI).

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