GOLAGHAT, May 10 – It is world’s most famous sanctuary for the endangered one-horned rhino, but the plight of the Kaziranga National Park does not find any mention in the speeches of politicians. The 859 sq km Park spans five constituencies, including Bokakhat, but the politicians here seem to be oblivious of its existence. This despite the fact that during elections, the candidates and their retinues have been regularly using the National Highway-37, the road east of the park to attend election meetings.
“Barring a 376 square km stretch of land where illegal migrants have settled, the park does not have votes to offer. True to their reputation, politicians are not interested in anything that does not translate into votes”, said a disgruntled park official, requesting anonymity. He said the negative attitude of the politicians was an indication of things to come.
“None of the aspirants for the five Assembly seats, irrespective of their political affiliation, mentioned the park in any election speech. They have otherwise been promising the moon,” the official said.
A resident of Kohora said it would be ‘fool hardy’ to expect politicians to do something for the Park when they care less for the public. “Only during seminars on wildlife preservation do politicians shed tears for Kaziranga. As soon the curtain goes down on these interactive sessions, the park is out of their minds. Conservation of wildlife figures pretty low on their list of priorities”, he added. Despite making a healthy contribution to the State economy by way of revenue from tourism, Kaziranga continues to be ignored. Its problems are as varied as its wildlife. The park is home to 1,557 rhinos and a fairly large population of elephants, tigers, deer, jungle cats, monkeys and birds.
Over the years, floods have gobbled up large chunks of land. Hundreds of animals have perished as well. ‘Making matters worse for the park authorities is mimosa– a kind of weed that is threatening to affect natural vegetation. Years of neglect has taken its toll on Kaziranga. Both MPs and MLAs are miserly when it comes to realising money from the local area development funds for improvement of the National Park. “Kaziranga’s condition would have been critical, had non-governmental organisations (NGOs) not contributed funds regularly,” a source said.
Politicians are allegedly even encouraging encroachment. At least 50,000 migrants have illegally settled in 376.5 sq km of land belonging to the park.