Three-member team on Jai mission to Umred, Nagzira

NAGPUR: A three-member committee set up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to seek whereabouts of missing iconic tiger Jai will be on a two-day visit to Umred-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary (UKWS) & Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) and its corridors from Saturday.
The committee comprises PS Somasekhar, inspector general of forests (IGF), Bengaluru, Qamar Qureshi, scientist at Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and Vivek Kishore, joint director of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Delhi.
The committee was set up after a group of Parliamentarians led by BJP MP from Bhandara-Gondia Nana Patole raised the issue in Lok Sabha on November 29. One of the Parliament members even demanded the Centre to take Interpol help to check the cases of tiger poaching in the country.
Jai was radio-collared for second time by WII on March 18, 2016. The tiger is missing since April 18 and is feared to be electrocuted in Kodurli village. There is also no direct or indirect evidence to show that the tiger is alive.
A three-member committee, claimed to be SIT by Patole, had visited Nagpur on December 9, met NGOs and individuals and sought information about Jai.
Wildlife spokesperson & DFO GK Vashishtha confirmed the development and said the committee set up by NTCA will not physically search Jai but verify veracity of claims made by Patole about Jai. After a two-day visit, the team will return to the city on Monday. A formal report will be submitted to NTCA.
On Friday, two members Somasekhar and Quereshi who reached here met chief wildlife warden Shree Bhagwan. The wildlife wing handed over pictures and some details about Jai, it was learnt. The WCCB member is expected to join them on Saturday.
Talking to TOI, Patole said despite the issue rocking the Parliament, state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and even forest officials are trying to hide the facts.
“Jai’s absence is a serious issue. If a radio-collared tiger goes missing, is it not the fault of the system? Yet, not a single officer has been held accountable and no responsibility has been fixed,” he said.
Patole said the probe team will meet him on Monday. The BJP MP was critical about the forest officials who unnecessarily sent a team to Telangana in search of Jai. “Tigers going missing from Bhandara-Gondia landscape is an issue for me. I don’t want to target anyone,” he added.
Interestingly, the CID inquiry announced in Jai case by none other than chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in September is still a non-starter. “We still don’t have any direction to conduct a probe,” said a top CID official.