Guwahati, Sep 24 — Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Thursday claimed that the state has achieved a major conservation milestone by recording zero rhino poaching cases for the past three years. He contrasted it with the previous governments in the state, when, he claimed, 40-45 rhinos were killed annually.
Speaking at a press conference, Sarma said the figure represented the officially registered cases and that the actual number of rhinos killed during the period could have been higher.
“During previous Congress regimes here, on an average annually, 40-45 rhinos were killed. And that is the official registered number. More could have been killed, which were not registered,” he claimed.
The Chief Minister said rhino poaching had declined significantly after 2014, with most years recording either no cases or only one or two incidents.
“In the last three years, zero rhino poaching cases were registered. Post-2014, most years it had been none or one-two poaching cases, which have become zero now,” Sarma claimed.
Describing the achievement as a major conservation success, he credited the state government, forest officials, security personnel and local communities for strengthening protection measures for the greater one-horned rhinoceros.
“This is a very big conservation success and I think nowhere in the world has it been achieved. It is a unique achievement for the people of the state as well as the government,” he said.
Sarma had earlier highlighted Assam’s conservation efforts on World Rhino Day on September 22, saying the state is home to nearly 80 per cent of the global population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros.
Official population estimates cited by the Assam Forest Department show that the state’s rhino population has increased substantially over the years.
The combined population in Kaziranga, Manas, Orang and Pobitora stood at 2,652 in 2018, compared with 1,672 in 1999.
Assam’s rhino conservation efforts have also received public attention in recent days, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen praising the state’s efforts to protect the endangered species.
Sarma’s latest remarks have brought the issue of wildlife protection into the political discourse, with the Chief Minister using the sharp decline in rhino poaching to contrast the record of successive governments in Assam.