Guwahati: The Assam forest division is suffering from a severe employee shortage in several protected areas, with two of the state’s national parks short of 450 frontline staff.
According to a report in TOI, currently, over 160 posts of frontline posts are vacant in western Assam’s Manas National Park, whereas the UNESCO World Heritage Site Kaziranga National Park has around 300 vacancies.
Conservationists have said that scarcity of manpower has impacted forest growth and administration in most of the ranges, which may harm wildlife and forest conservation.
The officials are pinning hope on the committee constituted to nominate 1 lakh youths as promised in the elections. As many as 3,000 vacancies for the posts of forest watchers, guards, foresters, and different frontline employees are waiting to be filled up by direct recruitment throughout the state, the officers mentioned.
Environment activist Rohit Choudhury said the Chief Wildlife Warden must place the serious issues of wildlife before the government, however, the wildlife wing of the Assam forest department is least concerned about the safety of wildlife areas.
He accused politicians of constructions on the Kanchanjuri animal corridor of KNP and the wildlife wing, while park authority looked the other way.
Also read: Assam reports 2,728 new COVID-19 cases, 30 more deaths
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