Bokakhat, Assam, May 4, 2016: At a small function held today at the office of the Director, Kaziranga National Park, family members of two deceased forest guards received financial support from the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), as part of the one-of-a-kind insurance cover it provides to frontline forest staff under its Van Rakshak Project.

Rekha Borah, the wife of late Forest Guard Someshwar Borah, received a cheque for Rs 1 lakh under WTI’s Supplemental Accident Insurance Scheme, while Gunada Gogoi, wife of late Forest Guard Liladhar Gogoi, received a cheque of Rs 25,000 as ex-gratia support.

M Ali, Director, Kaziranga National Park, handed the cheques over to the family members in presence of Subhasish Das, DFO, EAWL Division and WTI Deputy Director Dr Rathin Barman.

A search team had found the body of 56-year-old Someswar Borah underwater in the Tinimukhani area of the northern range of Kaziranga on November 14, 2015. Mr Borah was on duty at the time; he had reportedly been missing since the previous night when he had gone to bring back a patrolling boat.

Forty-year-old Liladhar Gogoi had died in a road accident on December 6, 2015, while he was on casual leave. Mr Gogoi began his service as a forest guard in 2007 and was working in the western range of Kaziranga.