Poachers to be shot at sight in Maharashtra

In another development,Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said a CID inquiry had been ordered into two recent tiger deaths in Chandrapur.

Kadam said he had issued orders to provide forest staff with arms to be used if they caught or spotted poachers in the act or in cross-border smuggling.

During a meeting on Tuesday,Kadam also decided to protect forest staff from criminal proceedings if they used firearms against poachers. “Human rights groups come in the way if there is any such action,but there is need to save the tigers,” he said.

The meeting was called after five tiger deaths were reported due to poaching in the last five months.

“If the staff spots poachers committing an offence,they have been given orders to shoot on sight. They should sound a warning asking them to surrender,however if the poachers fail to do so,they should be shot,” said Kadam.

He added that the staff would be protected against prosecution for their action. However,measures should be taken to ensure that too much force (outnumbering and cornering them) was not used against the poachers,he said.

On the other hand,the directive issued by NTCA Member Secretary Rajesh Gopal said: “As tiger areas are targeted by poachers and tigers are becoming victims of non-targeted killings due to sensitive tiger-human conflicts,there is need to ensure adequate caution while classifying tiger deaths as occurring due to “natural” causes.