STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The KNP (Kaziranga National Park) is to get the upper hand over poachers following the activation of ten satellite phones in the park on Monday evening.
KNP officials will use the ten satellite phones in the park's six ranges with no wireless connectivity in some areas, besides poor mobile connectivity. According to the KNP, it is perhaps the first instance of forest departments using satellite phones in India. Generally, the police, Army and other security agencies use satellite phones.
In May this year Chief Minister had a meeting with the KNP authority. The KNP Director, other senior officials and some deputy commissioners attended the meeting. The Chief Minister decided to provide ten satellite phones to the KNP at that meeting. The ASDMA (Assam State Disaster Management Authority) sponsored the ten satellite phones to the KNP, costing Rs 16 lakh. The service provider of the satellite phones is BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd). The KNP authority will bear the monthly expenditure of the satellite phones.
Talking to The Sentinel, KNP Director P Sivakumar said, "We got ten satellite phones activated on Monday evening. BSNL has already trained a few officers how to use satellite phones. We have to impart training to the ground staff as well.
"The KNP has areas like grooves and shadow areas where mobile phones do not work. There are communication bottlenecks in such areas. We thank the Chief Minister for providing us with the satellite phones soon after knowing the communication problems in the national parks. The satellite phones will help us in anti-poaching and emergencies.
"According to my knowledge, KNP is the first to get satellite phones amongst the forest departments of the country. The tariff for a satellite phone is Rs 18 per minute (both outgoing and incoming). We will bear the expenditure."
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