Govt fills vacant posts in Gir

JUNAGARH: A senior forest department official, who was in charge of the Gir sanctuary (west range) where two poaching incidents claimed the lives of six Asiatic lions in March, has been transfered, official sources said here on Thursday.

Bhaskar Shukla, who served as district forest officer, has been transfered to Gandhinagar and has been replaced by BP Patti, the sources said.

According to sources, Patti’s posting at Gir has come in wake of the Union government’s announcement of sending a three-member team of retired forest experts to look into the matter. Chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Bharat Pathak said a Central team is likely to visit Junagadh shortly on a fact-finding mission.

The Gir sanctuary was in the new recently after lion carcasses were found by villagers. As many as ten lions were poached in the region in the last one month, forcing the authorities to hand over the investigations to the state CID officials. Three persons have been arrested so far in the case.