GUWAHATI, Dec 5 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today ceremonially launched 15 anti-depredation squads of the forest department, which would be stationed in 15 major human-wildlife conflict districts in order to mitigate the problem and to ensure safety of both humans and wildlife.
The launching ceremony was held under the aegis of the Department of Forest at the Assam Administrative Staff College.
The department is engaging specially-trained 50 frontline staff to handle conflict situations and another 100 employees will be trained in the coming days.
The squads will be equipped with all logistics required for mitigating the conflict. Now, 150 numbers of 12-bore pump action guns and 15,000 rounds of rubber bullet ammunition will be at their disposal.
Speaking at the programme, the Chief Minister said that loss of lives of both humans and animals was unwarranted and the squads must spread awareness about avoiding and easing man-animal conflicts. �Peaceful coexistence is a must for humans and animals and the squads would be a great addition to the forest department in order to reduce casualties in conflict situations,� he said.
He emphasised the need to bring the casualties to zero by completely eliminating man-animal conflicts and urged the people of the State to cooperate with the squads in spreading awareness about animal behaviour.
The Chief Minister also distributed weapons and equipment to the squads at programme.
Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya also spoke at programme that was attended by Water Resources Minister Keshab Mahanta and PCCF AN Singh, among others.
