Guwahati, March 28: Around Rs 1.1 crore from a corpus fund meant for tiger conservation in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park (KNP) was allegedly misused during former President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to the park in February 2022.
This came to light based on an RTI filed by Assam-based RTI activist Rohit Choudhury on information related to former President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to KNP. An official reply to the RTI has revealed that the money meant for tiger conservation was used to pay for food, tents, carpets and mementoes, among other things, during former President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to the sanctuary in February 2022.
Kaziranga Field Director’s Office mentioned that the Rs 1.1 crore was allegedly diverted from the Kaziranga Tiger Conservation Foundation and spent on various heads such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, renovation of the convention hall, painting, tented accommodation and various purchases that included an air purifier.
The RTI reply, which the Hub News has a copy of, revealed anomalies and misuse of corpus fund meant for conservation of tiger in KNP.
Choudhury wrote to the state chief secretary about the alleged diversion of funds last month, citing the Kaziranga field director’s November 30, 2022, reply to the RTI petition he had filed on May 18.
“Besides the 1.1 crore that was spent from the tiger foundation’s corpus on the presidential visit, another Rs 51 lakh was diverted from a general wildlife fund,” he stated.
On the other hand, Assam Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowari said his department was ‘looking into’ the alleged misuse of funds for conservation since he came to know about it.
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