LAMKA, October 7: Addressing an awareness campaign on wildlife, ADC Churachandpur Chairman Langkhanpau Guite today lamented the failure of village chiefs to attend the camp, though invited and further elaborated on the need to find other innovative occupations other than hunting animals and cutting down forests.
The “One Day Nature Education and Wildlife Awareness Campaign” was being organized by the Forest Department, CCpur at Dorcas Hall Auditorium, New Lamka today.
ADCC Langkhanpau Guite speaking on the occasion said that understanding and respecting the importance of wildlife is the bounden duty of the people for their own good.
He lamented that many of the 60 or so village chiefs invited to the event had failed to attend the function which would otherwise have been an eye opener for them.
He said, “We must be aware that as per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the Forest Department is empowered to arrest those who had preyed on wildlife. Our approach to wildlife is very barbaric as shown by our own action which is to want to hunt down and eat the animals on spotting them, which is very much the contrary in the other developed countries, where the people have the will to protect and preserve the wildlife in such a situation.”
Divisional Forest Officer (South), Kamsuanmung Tombing in his key note address stressed on the importance of wild life and forest/trees in the ecological set up. The importance of forest and trees resulted in the temporary closing down of the proposed Tipaimukh Dam by the government, he said while adding that the proposed dam will result in the doing away of 78 lakh trees and its wildlife habitat.
The DFO also read out the message from the Prime Minister of India on the occasion of the Wildlife Week. The message from the PM said: “Despite the pressure of modernization, we must protect the wild life resource which will be possible only through the positive involvement of all stake holders while at the same time create a mass movement to generate awareness of our wild life heritage.”
The first session of the campaign was followed by a technical session where experts talk on the topic ‘wild life conservation’ and ‘nature education’ attended by around 30-35 village chiefs who came today.