Protest against Punjab Wildlife Advisory Board's decisison

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Bishnois protest against limited killing of blue bulls

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11

The nature-loving and worshipping Bishnoi community settled in millions in the

Abohar-Fazilka, Ganganagar-Bikaner and Sirsa-Fatehbad belt, has been hurt deeply

by the Punjab Government’s decision to go in for the limited killing of blue

bulls, the estimated population of which is 10,312 in the state.

Leaders of the community have protested against the decision. “Come what may, we

will not allow the killing of blue bulls,” said Mr Vijay Kumar, a senior

functionary of the Akhil Bharatiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha, which has its

headquarters at Abohar.

“Our president, Mr Hanuman Bishnoi, who is a member of the Punjab Wildlife

Advisory Board, has told the Chief Minster-cum- chairman of the board Capt

Amarinder Singh that it is a wrong decision and should be withdrawn as the

killing of blue bulls can lead to a big reaction from the Bishnoi community,”

said Mr Vijay Kumar.

Mr Hanuman Bishnoi, who is angry over the decision, has branded the organisation

the “wildlife elimination board”. Members of the community are engaged in a

debate on providing human protection to these animals where their population is

expected to be depleted. “The human population is also rising rapidly. Will the

government also take a decision to reduce it, the way it has decided in the case

of the blue bulls?” asked another office-bearer of the sabha.

Mr Hanuman has gone to Khajedi near Jodhpur, in connection with arrangements for

a rural fair where all those who are strongly against the killing of wild

animals and the cutting of trees meet every year. “ We will raise the issue at

the fair,” asserted Mr Vijay Kumar talking to TNS on the phone. He talked about

the sacrifices made by the community to save flora and fauna in the past. As

many as 363 persons from the Bishnoi community gave their lives while saving

wild animals from hunters in the 18th century.

The sabha office-bearers, including its general secretary, Mr Sahib Ram Bishnoi,

have rejected the argument that blue bulls cause harm to crops in the Malwa

belt, where permits for limited killing are to be issued.

“We have 4,000 black buck and 1,000 blue bulls in 13 villages, including

Narainpur, Raipura, Datarwala, and Khairpur, an area which is a notified

unfenced sanctuary. These animals move in herds in our crops. Despite such a

large concentration of these animals, our per acre yield of wheat and other

crops is still higher than that in the Mansa-Bathinda area where certain persons

are propagating that wild animals are causing large-scale damage to crops,” said

Mr Vijay Kumar, who is also the president of the Ferozepore chapter of the

sabha.

The government should educate people so that they learn to live with wild

animals as these were “a part of our universe”. Instead of ordering the killing

of blue bulls, the government should make arrangements to enlarge the habitat of

the animals in the Malwa belt, from where forests had been almost wiped out.

Professional hunters, who would get permits to kill blue bulls would not stop

after killing a limited number of animals. “Once they get the licence, they will

run amok and wipe out the animals completely as no system will be in place to

monitor such killings.”

 

(www.Tribuneindia.com/2005/20050512/punjab 1.htm#8)

 

 

 

 

Dr.Sandeep K.Jain

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