Shivpuri, October 8, 2015: Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), along with Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, jointly conducted Wildlife Crime Prevention Training for 98 frontline forest staff of Gwalior and Shivpuri circles in Madhya Pradesh. The training was held at Madhav National Park in two batches from October 3 to 8 under WTI’s Van Rakshak Programme (VRP).

The first batch of training saw participation of 48 frontline forest staff of Shivpuri and Gwalior circles from October 3 to 5. This training is for first timers who haven’t attended any previous training on wildlife crime prevention by WTI. The second batch of training that saw the participation of 50 frontline forest staff from the two circles was held from October 7 to 8. This refresher batch had already attended the fresh batch training for Module B — training syllabus for Ranger Officers and those below them — of WTI’s Wildlife Crime Prevention Training in 2014. Moreover, the syllabus of this Module is modified according to the needs of each state.

Mr SS Guar, CCF & Director, Madhav NP and Mr Rajesh Kumar, CCF, Gwalior,
during the training

Since a lot of wildlife is present outside the PAs, the idea was to train frontline forest staff of non-protected areas on various legal aspects such as Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and its various sections like anti-poaching, patrolling techniques, crime scene investigation, intelligence gathering, interrogation techniques, and preparation of Preliminary Offence Report (POR).

The training laid emphasis on the understanding of the various concepts and the common mistakes often committed by frontline forest staff while preparing the POR and Crime Scene Investigation. They were briefed about the importance of the independent witnesses during raid operations and the various procedures for collection and preservation of evidences.

The trainers from WTI included Dr RP Mishra, Advocate Sanjai Rai, Rudra Mahapatra and Tenzin Norsang. The other team members from WTI who were part of the exercise were Achintya Tripathi and Pow Aim Hailong.

The Chief Conservator of Forests of Gwalior and Shivpuri, along with the CCF Madhav National Park, attended the training and gave good feedback to this training programme. “Such trainings help in capacity building of our staff to fight wildlife crimes in an organised and diligent manner. Our staff learned about small mistakes that they commit in the field during investigations and seizures, something that is later taken advantage of by the criminals lawyers in the court of law,” said SS Gaur, CCF & Director, Madhav National Park, Madhya Pradesh.

In a bid to equip and strengthen the frontline forest staff of the country, WTI has been conducting Wildlife Crime Prevention Training Programme under VRP since 2001. VRP follows a multi-pronged strategy with four thrust areas abbreviated as TEAM: Training, Equipping, Awareness and Morale Boosting, to broadly facilitate capacity building and strengthen spirits of personnel in tough field conditions.

“Conducting trainings like these is a good initiative to control wildlife crimes and make our forests safer for wildlife, both in protected and non-protected areas of Madhya Pradesh that boasts of some of the most diverse wildlife in the country,” said Dr RP Mishra, Regional Head, WTI. So far, WTI has conducted training in 6 circles out of the 16 outside Protected Areas (PAs) in Madhya Pradesh.

Adding to this, Mr SS Guar, Director, Madhav National Park, encouraged the participants to actively participate in the training considering that the frontline staff is the eyes and ears of the animals who cannot speak. “It is unfortunate that tigers do not have a right to vote and therefore politicians care less about their well-being,” he quipped.