Large areas of wildlife parks under encroachment

New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) A large area of various national parks, including the Kaziranga National Park of Asom, is under encroachment, the Government told the Rajya Sabha today.

The Kaziranga Park has sufferred the maximum loss with 7790 hectares of its land illegally occupied, Minister of State for Environment Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply to a question.

Three more national parks in Asom--Manas, Rajiv Gandhi and Nameri -- have also large area under unauthrised occupation. They have lost 1700, 800 and 2100 hectares to illegal users.

A large part of the Namdapha National Park in Arunachal(3005 hectares) has also been encroached too.

Besides the Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh, Bannerghatta National Park in Karnataka, Dibru Saikhowa National Park in Asom have also more than 200 hectares of their area under encroachment.

The Minister, however, said that steps were being taken to reclaim the encroached areas of the park.

These include consolidation and demarcation of park boundaries, bringing the encroached areas under afforestation after eviction, fixing of signages cautioning of penal clauses for encroachment, excavation of boundary trenches and construction of masonry rubble wall.

He said the Centre provides technical and financial assistance to national parks for various activities which include prevention of encroachments.

UNI