Assign Rab to help protect Sundarbans, tigers

The demand was placed at the inaugural session of a two-day workshop titled 'Teachers for tigers: Advanced technique refresher course' at Dhaka Zoo auditorium yesterday.

The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), Dhaka Zoo, Zoo Outreach Organisation of India, and Wildlife Conservation Society of New York have jointly organised the workshop. Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, principal secretary to the prime minister, was present as the chief guest while Prof M Harunur Rashid, a trustee of the WTB, chaired the inaugural session.

Inaugurating the workshop, Dr Siddiqui said the forest should be preserved for the sake of human beings and to do so, the first thing to be done is to stop issuing entry permits.

Using such entry permits, a section of people creates noise and puts the survival of the endangered species like tigers as risk, he added.

The authorities should think of banning entry of people into the forest for next one decade, Dr Siddiqui said.

Such a ban might create unemployment for a section of people like Bawali, Mawali and others, but the government has enough scope to find alternative employment for a few lakh people, he added.

Prof M Harunur Rashid said immediate recruitment of a special contingent of Rab for the Sundarbans would help prevent attacks by poachers and other threats to the mangrove forest and its animals.

To get the best from such a special contingent, they should be given absolute authority and be answerable only to the prime minister, he said.

Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Kamrul Hasan said preservation of wildlife is a must to maintain balance of nature and for the very existence of the human race.

CEO of Banglalink Lars P Reichelt expressed his optimism to extend the hands of cooperation of his company in preserving the wildlife and the endangered species of tiger.

"We, along with a few local wildlife activists, are working on raising a fund for the endangered Royal Bengal Tigers of the Sundarbans," he said, adding: "Banglalink is very much linked with the symbol of tiger and its majestic approach, which bind us to do something for the tigers."

DG of Fisheries and Livestock Directorate Dr Salahuddin Mahmood, Chief Conservator of Forests Mohammad Osman Gani and Curator of Dhaka Zoo Kazi Fazlul Haque also spoke.

Experts and wildlife conservationists from home and abroad also deliberated on the advanced techniques of tiger conservation at the technical sessions of the workshop.