Doomdooma: The Chhattisgarh high court has lifted a ban on the translocation of four wild buffaloes from Assam, paving the way for their relocation.
The ban had been imposed due to genetic disparities between the wild buffaloes of Chhattisgarh and Assam.
However, the court has imposed certain conditions for the translocation, including the collection of an ecological suitability report before the buffaloes are moved. The buffaloes must also be released into forests within 45 days of their arrival.
The division bench of the Chhattisgarh high court, which included Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Sanjay K Agrawal, made the judgment to lift the ban on the translocation of four wild buffaloes from Assam based on a report from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). The report cleared any genetic disparities between the wild buffaloes of Assam and Chhattisgarh.
The court noted that the state government had informed them about a letter issued by the government of Assam on March 14, 2023. This letter granted permission to capture four sub-adult female wild buffaloes from Manas National Park and translocate them to Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh. The permission was subject to certain conditions mentioned in the letter.
It’s worth noting that in April 2020, the Chhattisgarh forest department had already translocated two sub-adult wild buffaloes from Manas Tiger Reserve to Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary. One was a male and the other was a female.
To provide additional information, the permission to bring the two sub-adult wild buffaloes from Manas Tiger Reserve to Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh was granted by the Government of India and the Chhattisgarh government. However, it was only given on the condition that the buffaloes would be released into the wild.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had requested a report from the authorities of the Assam Forest Department on whether the forests in Chhattisgarh were ecologically suitable for the wild buffaloes from Assam.
The Chhattisgarh Forest Department had initially planned to keep the wild buffaloes from Assam in an enclosure for cross-breeding in the forests of Udanti Sitanadi Sanctuary.
In 2022, Nitin Singhvi of Raipur filed a public interest litigation in the Chhattisgarh High Court regarding the issue of keeping wild buffaloes from Assam in captivity for life. The petition also referenced the Wildlife Institute of India’s (WII) report stating that there is a genetic disparity between the forest buffaloes of Assam and Chhattisgarh. Furthermore, the ecologically suitable report had not been provided to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Despite the pending petition, a team from the Chhattisgarh forest department visited Assam on March 5, 2023, to bring four more wild buffaloes to the state. The petitioner submitted to the court that the WII had reported a genetic disparity between the wild buffaloes of Assam and Chhattisgarh.
As per the order of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), it was required to examine whether the forests of Chhattisgarh were ecologically suitable for the wild buffaloes from Assam before their translocation. The court had imposed a ban on the translocation of wild buffaloes until further orders.
In a hearing held on April 10, 2023, the Chhattisgarh forest department informed the court about the latest report from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the conditional permission granted by the Assam government to the forest department.
According to the WII report, the wild buffaloes from Assam can be used for a breeding program in Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh forest department presented permission from the government of Assam, which had certain conditions attached to it, before the court.
The conditions attached to the permission granted by the government of Assam include that the wild buffaloes brought from Assam can only be kept in an enclosure for a maximum of 45 days, after which they must be released in the forest as per the Government of India’s earlier permission to translocate the wild buffaloes.
The Government of India has ordered the translocation of wild buffaloes from Assam by releasing them into suitable habitats in Chhattisgarh, not keeping them captive for life.
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According to the court’s ruling, forest buffaloes can only be brought from Assam to Chhattisgarh after the NTCA provides a report on the ecological suitability of the forest buffaloes of Assam in Chhattisgarh.
In light of the fresh report from the WII and the conditional permission granted by the Assam government, the court has dismissed the petition.
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