Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded that Agriculture Minister Ramesh Tawadkar be arrested if in case there is any poaching of peacocks and bison in the State. AAP said Tawadkar’s statement that these species are being considered to be added to the list of vermin can send a wrong message to the people that they are free to kill these animals.
“AAP demands that if a killing of peacock or gaur (Indian Bison) takes place now, then the government should hold Minister Tawadkar responsible and arrest him for prosecution as per the law that the minister is planning to undermine,” AAP Goa convenor Valmiki Naik said addressing media persons.
Tawadkar had said the government may list the Indian bison and peacock as vermin as there are complaints from farmers that the animals are destroying crops.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, however, clarified that there is no plan to list the peacock as vermin.
“The peacock is India’s National bird and the gaur is Goa’s State animal, and both these species enjoy protection under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972,” Naik pointed out.
“The killing of schedule I species is strictly prohibited and as per section 51 (1-A) attracts imprisonment, which may extend up to seven years and also a fine, which shall not be less than Rs 10,000,” he said.
AAP said gaurs are listed as vulnerable species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list. “Wildlife experts suggest that every month two-three gaurs are killed in Goa by farmers or poachers, hence the shocking suggestion by someone of the stature of a minister could be misconstrued, as a licence to indiscriminately kill and further threaten the very existence of the State animal,” he said.
AAP has demanded that Tawadkar immediately withdraw his suggestion and issue a clarification that any person causing harm to peacocks, gaurs or other protected species will be punished.
Naik said the minister should announce the location of the affected plantations and prove that peacocks and gaurs encroached into the plantation.
AAP also demanded that the government make budgetary provision to provide immediate assistance to farmers who have been genuinely suffering losses due to bird and animal attacks.
