(IN): Villagers take on Nagaland minister’s ‘hunter’ aide

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070626/asp/northeast/story_7973090.asp

 

Villagers take on Nagaland minister's 'hunter' aide

A STAFF REPORTER

 

*Guwahati, June 25:* Poor marksmanship saved a lesser adjutant stork, but

the man pulling the trigger had no such luck.

 

A mob in Mesagarh caught Wato Konyak, personal assistant of Nagaland

parliamentarian Wangniyu Konyak, for firing a shot from his .22 rifle at a

lesser adjutant stork and handed him over to the authorities.

 

The forest department has booked Wato Konyak under Sections 9/50 and 5/A of

the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

 

Amal Sharma, divisional forest officer of Sivasagar, said the bullet from

Wato Konyak's rifle had hit the bird in the leg. The stork has been shifted

to the animal rescue centre at Kaziranga, he added.

 

The lesser adjutant stork is listed under the sixth schedule of the Wildlife

Protection Act.

 

Banomali Handique, officer in-charge of Nazira police station, said a

five-vehicle convoy of the Nagaland parliamentarian, on its way to Dimapur

from Mon district, stopped near a paddy field at Mesagarh this morning. Wato

Konyak got out of his car and fired at the bird from his rifle.

 

The villagers working in the adjacent fields rushed to the spot and gheroed

the convoy. This resulted in a standoff between the villagers and the

security personnel travelling with the convoy.

 

A team from Nazira police station arrived shortly and brought the convoy to

the police station, 7 km from Mesagarh.

 

Handique said it was Wato Konyak who had stopped the convoy at Mesagarh and

the parliamentarian had nothing to do with the incident.

 

" He (Wato Konyak) is not a Nagaland government employee, " Wangniyu Konyak

reportedly told the police in an apparent effort to keep the state

government out of the case.

 

The police later handed over Wato Konyak to the forest department and

allowed the convoy to proceed.

 

Sharma described the incident as a positive development. " It shows that the

people of Assam have now become aware of the importance of protecting these

rare birds, " he said.

 

Sharma praised the forest department, saying the villagers' action was a

result of the aggressive awareness drives being carried out by the

department in recent months.

 

The forest department, on its part, has decided to send a letter of

appreciation to the villagers of Mesagarh.

 

This is not the first time that officials and political representatives from

Nagaland have been involved in killing wildlife in Assam. A few years ago, a

senior bureaucrat from the neighbouring state was booked for killing animals

near the Kaziranga National Park.

 

The residents living around Gibbon wildlife sanctuary, near the border town

of Mariani, protested when some Nagaland police personnel tried to kill

monkeys a few months ago.

 

 

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