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Mizzima: World's famous park in Ass



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     World?s famous park in Assam faces financial crunch

By Our Correspondent
Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

Guwahati, Nov. 8: The Kaziranga National Park has been reopened for the
visitors. The world?s famous park, home to one-horned Rhinos, migratory
birds and several endangered species will be kept open for the visitors
till April next so that tourists can take a glimpse of them. The 430
square kilometer park located at Nagaon and the Golaght districts of
Assam (in North East India) was declared world heritage site in 1985.
Since then several foreign agencies have come forward to extend
financial help to save the animals who are on the verge of extinction.

The national park which earns a huge chunk of foreign revenue from the
tourists (both domestic and foreign) is likely to be affected this time
as several foreign tourists have already cancelled their bookings due to
ongoing war in Afghanistan. "Tourists particularly from Japan and
Germany have cancelled their bookings which would lower the revenue this
time", said the park authorities. The park authorities are worried over
the problem, as they have to depend on the revenue collected from the
foreign tourists in order to maintain the famous national park.

"We need a huge sum of revenue to maintain the park as other funding
sources are getting dried up", the authorities said. The financial
problem has reached to such a magnitude that the authorities have to
retrench several guards engaged in combating the rampant poaching.

Taking advantage of the situation altogether 459 Rhinos have been killed
by the poachers since 1985. Despite the problem the authorities have not
been able to contain the menace due to poor infrastructure. Moreover the
guards engaged in the park duty are not at all equipped to match with
the gun power of the poachers and as a result of which poaching has been
on the rise gradually.

Worried over the growing menace, a group of school students of England
has provided Rs 4.20 lakh to the park authorities to overcome the
prevailing problem. Apart from the financial problem, the national park
is facing serious erosion by the mighty Brahmaputra. The river flowing
across the park has eroded a huge stretch for which several species have
lost their habitat. During the flood deers and Rhinos died due to lack
of food. Though the park authorities have raised some high land in a bid
to contain the problem, funds crunch has affected the work to a large
extent.

Another important problem is encroachment. Hundreds of immigrants have
encroached a huge area, but surprisingly no government has come forward
to carry out an eviction drive against the encroachers. They are learnt
to have a close nexus with poachers leading to a major problem for the
park authorities. During the last couple of years, 30 poachers were
killed, but the problem is not over till now.




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<blockquote><b><font color="#3333FF"><font size=+1>World?s famous park
in Assam faces financial crunch</font></font></b></blockquote>
<i><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>By Our Correspondent</font></font></i>
<br><i><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>Mizzima News <a href="http://www.mizzima.com";>(www.mizzima.com)</a></font></font></i>
<p><font size=+1><i><font color="#FF0000">Guwahati, Nov. 8: </font></i>The
Kaziranga National Park has been reopened for the visitors. The world?s
famous park, home to one-horned Rhinos, migratory birds and several endangered
species will be kept open for the visitors till April next so that tourists
can take a glimpse of them. The 430 square kilometer park located at Nagaon
and the Golaght districts of Assam (in North East India) was declared world
heritage site in 1985. Since then several foreign agencies have come forward
to extend financial help to save the animals who are on the verge of extinction.</font>
<p><font size=+1>The national park which earns a huge chunk of foreign
revenue from the tourists (both domestic and foreign) is likely to be affected
this time as several foreign tourists have already cancelled their bookings
due to ongoing war in Afghanistan. "Tourists particularly from Japan and
Germany have cancelled their bookings which would lower the revenue this
time", said the park authorities. The park authorities are worried over
the problem, as they have to depend on the revenue collected from the foreign
tourists in order to maintain the famous national park.</font>
<p><font size=+1>"We need a huge sum of revenue to maintain the park as
other funding sources are getting dried up", the authorities said. The
financial problem has reached to such a magnitude that the authorities
have to retrench several guards engaged in combating the rampant poaching.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Taking advantage of the situation altogether 459 Rhinos
have been killed by the poachers since 1985. Despite the problem the authorities
have not been able to contain the menace due to poor infrastructure. Moreover
the guards engaged in the park duty are not at all equipped to match with
the gun power of the poachers and as a result of which poaching has been
on the rise gradually.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Worried over the growing menace, a group of school students
of England has provided Rs 4.20 lakh to the park authorities to overcome
the prevailing problem. Apart from the financial problem, the national
park is facing serious erosion by the mighty Brahmaputra. The river flowing
across the park has eroded a huge stretch for which several species have
lost their habitat. During the flood deers and Rhinos died due to lack
of food. Though the park authorities have raised some high land in a bid
to contain the problem, funds crunch has affected the work to a large extent.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Another important problem is encroachment. Hundreds of
immigrants have encroached a huge area, but surprisingly no government
has come forward to carry out an eviction drive against the encroachers.
They are learnt to have a close nexus with poachers leading to a major
problem for the park authorities. During the last couple of years, 30 poachers
were killed, but the problem is not over till now.</font>
<br>&nbsp;
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