| THE STATE OF THE TIGER | |
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Madhya Pradesh: The Tiger State - The Tiger Cell: Police and Forest Officers Take Action
One of the most positive early steps taken to tackle the poaching crisis was the formation of a Tiger Cell in October 1994 to co-ordinate the activities of the Forest and Police Departments. Under the leadership of the Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Police Mr Rajgopal, there were a number of high profile and successful seizures made. Rajgopal quickly made the Tiger Cell effective and senior forest officers had access to him day and night giving them considerable confidence in his proactive stance. Rajgopal had estimated that "around one tiger every week and one leopard every day" were being lost to poachers in the State. The Chief Minister and Kamal Nath reiterated their commitment to escalate intelligence and anti-poaching operations and supported moves to arm forest staff and ensure that poachers were not released on bail to re-offend. The activities of the Tiger Cell were encouraged and the Chief Minister insisted that the government intended "to maintain the pressure on poachers and traders". In addition, Kamal Nath recognised the problems associated with transfering effective staff. |
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