GUWAHATI: About Rs 1.1 crore was diverted from a corpus fund meant for tiger conservation in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park to spend towards former President Ram Nath Kovind's visit to the sanctuary in February 2022, according to an official reply to an RTI query has revealed.
The diverted amount was used to pay for food, tents, carpets and mementoes, among other things, during the ex- President’s visit to KNP.
The revelation came in response to Assam-based RTI activist Rohit Choudhury's petition, where the Kaziranga field director's office mentioned that an amount of Rs 1.1 lakh was allegedly diverted from the funds of the Kaziranga Tiger Conservation Foundation and was spent to meet various expenses such as breakfast, lunch and dinner; renovation and painting of the convention hall, tents for accommodation and sundry purchases that included an air purifier.
RTI activist Rohit Choudhury then wrote to the state chief secretary about the alleged diversion of funds last month, citing the Kaziranga field director's November 30, 2022, reply to the RTI query he had filed on May 18. It also came to light that besides the 1.1 crore that was spent from the tiger foundation's corpus on the presidential visit, another Rs 51 lakh was allegedly diverted from a general wildlife fund, according to Choudhury.
When asked about it, state forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowari said his department was “looking into” the alleged misuse of funds for conservation since he came to know about it. He also said an inquiry would be started, if found necessary.
Kaziranga is famous as the abode of the endangered one-horned rhino and has the highest number of rhinos in Asia. But its tiger population numbering 121, according to the last census, is equally significant.
According to Rule 25 of the Assam Tiger Conservation Foundation Rules, 2010, 90 per cent of the funding is meant to be used to strengthen eco-development and village-level committees located in and around the reserve; formation of squads to curb man-animal conflict and to support training of field staff, among other objectives. The remaining 10 per cent has to be kept in fixed deposits as a “society fund”.
Choudhury said that the field director’s reply has revealed that funds under KTCF have been diverted and spent for purposes that are not even remotely connected to the objectives of the foundation, labeling it as a serious violation of Rule 25 of the Assam Tiger Conservation Rules, 2010.
Also Watch: