Independent teams constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) would then carry out field visits to assess the deficiencies on ground and eventually draw up a targetted security plan, along with the tiger reserve administration.
Tiger reserves across the country will now be audited for their security preparedness to tackle poaching and protect forests. A new set of protocols have been released that tiger reserve administrations would have to adhere to.
Independent teams constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) would then carry out field visits to assess the deficiencies on ground and eventually draw up a targetted security plan, along with the tiger reserve administration.
The environment ministry and NTCA unveiled protocols for the audit on the occasion of the International Tiger Day on Saturday. The security audit will broadly require tiger reserves to list out the biggest threats to their protected area in the short term and long term, the strength of staff, both trained and untrained, their patrolling exercises, amenities they possess to patrol and even the resources at their disposal to investigate poaching.
Once the tiger reserves submit the details, an independent field assessment would follow. The audit protocols were unveiled on the back of a pilot study NTCA carried out in Kanha tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh and Satkosia tiger reserve, Odisha, in January to test the suitability of benchmarks.
NTCA officials said the availability of firearms with forest foresters in combating poaching would form a crucial aspect of the audit. In only select states of the country, such as Assam and Uttar Pradesh, forest guards have limited immunity under sections of the CrPC to combat poaching rings. "In states such as Bihar, forest department does not have any firearms to deal with poachers in protected areas. Many states have written to NTCA to give forest staff a status equal to police for combating poachers," a senior NTCA official said.
The protocols have been developed at a time when the poaching still remains one of the biggest drivers of tiger mortality in the country's 50 tiger reserves. So far in 2017, NTCA has reported 15 cases of poaching, including cases of seizures of tiger body parts whereas non-profit organisation Wildlife Protection Society of India recorded 22 poaching cases.
The audit, modelled on the global practices that is also actively used in most South-East Asian tiger bearing countries, was developed in collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum and the World Wildlife Fund.
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