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This might be touch and go and it will be definitely challenged in the court. The main issue is inaccurate animal count and absence of fair statistics on crop damage. So lets see how this pans out because enforcement officials have no means whatsoever to apprehend any of the poachers but hopefully it should bring some awareness to conservation and maintaining natural habitat for such animals.
On my recent visit to Punjab and discussions with my relatives who live in such “affected” areas i.e. in Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur Districts they mentioned that they rarely get to see any of these animals such as Blue Bulls or Wild Boars or birds including the black partridge called “titar” in Punjabi and BTW I rarely even saw house sparrows or butterflies. They also don’t fish in Beas river any more due to pollution. General thought was that maybe in few villages adjoining Himachal or lower Shivalik hills these animals might have caused damage to orchards or standing crops.
In discussions with a senior official of state I had mentioned about how Pakistan was doing a better job of conservation and hunting. To my pleasant surprise this person had traveled and interacted with his counterparts across the border and other parts of world but mentioned that ground realities are very different. He also rated Pollution control as high on government’s agenda but its no mean task picking up cudgels with powerful Industry and land development lobby.

Cheers
Navi

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