TheAssam forest departmenthas denied allegations of “manipulation” of rhino census data at the Kaziranga and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) – a UNESCO world heritage site, flagged by an RTI activist who accused the park authorities of jacking up the total rhino count from 2,042 to 2,634.
Calling the charges baseless, Assam principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) and head of forest force (HOFF) MK Yadava wrote to the Union forest and Environment ministry to take “suitable action” against RTI activist Rohit Choudhury, who he accused of sharing compartment-wise presence of rhinos in the park, despite restraint by the park director.
The 14th rhino census was carried out at the KNPTR in March last year, which counted 2,634 one-horned rhinos in the park. The final computation of data was carried out on March 28 and 2,613 was the total number of rhinos arrived at during computation.
Choudhury said that in the final computation, the enumerators data of March 26 and 27, 2022, pertaining to 22 blocks was deleted, and the increased numbers of the sample survey of March 28, 2022 were substituted, to jack up the total count from 2,042 to 2,634.