Elephant Day Celebrated as part of Wildlife Week
By Our Staff Reporter
Chilla (Rajaji National Park), 4 Oct: As part of the ongoing Wildlife Week, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal visited the Chilla Forest Complex of Rajaji Tiger Reserve here today to celebrate “Elephant Day.” During the programme, he also paid tribute to the forest personnel who had died in the Chilla vehicle accident on 8 January this year. He also praised the Rajaji Park administration for its contribution towards elephant conservation.
After unveiling plaques of forest motor routes named in memory of the deceased personnel, the minister also honoured their family members with shawls. On this occasion, Uniyal announced that the Neo-Natal Centre in the elephant camp at Chilla would be named the ASPS (Aloki, Shailesh, Pramod, and Saif Ali) Memorial Neo-Natal Centre in honour of the four deceased forest personnel, who had died in the Chilla accident. The Forest Minister also inaugurated the Integrated Forest Outpost on this occasion. Emphasising public participation in forest fire protection, he stressed upon the need for forming forest fire management committees and promoting the department’s good/public welfare works through media and social media. School children present at the programme were encouraged to be aware of elephant and wildlife conservation.
Principal Secretary of Forests, RK Sudhanshu spoke about the importance of elephants and the need for “human-wildlife coexistence.” Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF) Dr Dhananjay Mohan paid tribute to the forest personnel who had died in the accident in Chilla in January and appreciated the continuous efforts of the state reserves towards wildlife conservation. Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)/Chief Wildlife Warden Ranjan Kumar Mishra also praised the efforts of Rajaji Reserve in conserving elephants and wildlife and called for the spirit of coexistence. Additional Chief Conservator of Forests Dr Vivek Pandey, Conservator of Forests/Director of Corbett Tiger Reserve Dr Saket Badola, Director of Rajaji Tiger Reserve Dr Koko Rose, and others were present at the programme. The programme was conducted by Sarita Bhatt, Wildlife Warden, Chilla.
