The late Mr Thaneswar Das’s widow receives a cheque under IFAW-WTI’s ex-gratia scheme

Bokakhat, Assam, January 11, 2017: In a small ceremony held yesterday at the office of Dr Satyendra Singh, Director, Kaziranga National Park, a cheque of Rs 100,000 was handed over under IFAW-WTI’s ex-gratia scheme for frontline forest staff to Mrs Pranati Pathak Das, wife of the late Mr Thaneswar Das, a forest guard who had died last June while on duty in the Central Forest Range of Kaziranga. WTI Deputy Director Dr Rathin Barman and senior Assam Forest Department officials were also present on the occasion.

The forest departments of 23 states have joined IFAW-WTI’s ex-gratia scheme thus far, with 20,400 frontline forest personnel covered against death or disability while on duty.

The late Mr Thaneswar Das had joined the Assam Forest Department in 1984. He was transferred to Kaziranga on January 25 last year. According to the Kaziranga Forest Authority, his body was recovered near the Diphlu River, which is adjacent to Mikirjan Forest Camp, on June 17. He had been missing since June 14.

IFAW-WTI’s Supplementary Accident Insurance Scheme is the only NGO-run scheme in India that brings frontline forest staff under an ex-gratia umbrella, providing coverage of up to Rs 100,000 in case of death and a partial amount in case of permanent disability.

The forest departments of 23 states have joined this scheme thus far, with 20,400 frontline forest personnel across the country having been covered against death or disability while on duty. Nearly 150 families have availed this ex-gratia benefit in the last 15 years. The Van Rakshak Project, under which this scheme falls, has also trained and equipped over 16,000 forest personnel in more than 150 Protected Areas of India and trans-boundary areas of Bhutan.