Siddaramaiah skips Wildlife Week second year in row

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has come under severe criticism from wildlife circles as he has broken the tradition and decided to skip the inauguration of Wildlife Week celebrations that begin on October 2.

The Forest Department invitation sent out for the celebration has no mention of the chief minister and the event is being inaugurated by Forest Minister Ramanath Rai. In the entire year, this is the only Forest Department function that the chief ministers have been attending traditionally. But for the first time, Mr Siddaramaiah has veered away from it, says a section of wildlife conservationists.

On Thursday, Mr Siddaramaiah is touring Haveri district, while his schedule for Friday does not include the Wildlife Week inauguration programme. What makes it even more ironical is that Mr Siddarmaiah is also the Chairman of the State Wildlife Board.

“Karnataka has the highest number of tigers and elephants in the country, around 18 per cent of the state’s land is covered by forests and the government earns large revenues from the Forest Department. These facts are reason enough for the chief minister to attend the programme. He is ignoring the efforts of our foresters, who struggle to keep our forests safe, by skipping the event. This is not the first time. Last year too, he did not attend the programme, though his name had been printed on the invitation card,” said a conservationist.

The Wildlife Week is observed by the forest departments across the country in October every year to create awareness about wildlife among students and the general public. The Forest Department holds a number of initiatives during the period.

“The present government seems to be ignoring the wildlife issues. Several wildlife violations in the state are overlooked as powerful lobbies exist either within the government or they are connected to someone in the government. Events like Wildlife Week should have the support of chief minister,” a wildlife expert said.

Former forest officers, however, said that it could just be a coincidence that the chief minister is skipping the function for the second consecutive year. “As Mr Siddaramaiah is the Chairperson of the State Board for Wildlife, he is aware of most of the developments in the wildlife and forest divisions. But having said that, his presence would have certainly given a boost to the morale of forest department officials,” said a retired forest officer from Karnataka.