In a first, Assam equips Kaziranga park officials with satellite phones

Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua handed over 10 satellite phones to the forest officials of Kaziranga National Park to boost anti-poaching measures in the park, which has the highest one-horned Rhino population in the world.

Guwahati: Assam's Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has become the first National Park in India to avail satellite phones to the forest officials. Assam Chief Secretary, Jishnu Barua on Wednesday handed over 10 satellite phones to the forest officials.

The decision to provide satellite phones to the forest personnel was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma at the KNP on May 27 this year. The step to equip the forest personnel with satellite phones was taken to boost anti-poaching measures in the park, which has the highest one-horned Rhino population in the world. Sooner the park will have 2500 one-horned Rhinos.

The Assam State Disaster Management Authority has procured the ten satellite phones for the KNP at an estimated cost of Rs.16 lakh. BSNL will facilitate the services and the park authorities will bear the monthly expenses.

An official of the National Park said that the satellite phones will be used in the park's six ranges with no wireless or poor mobile connectivity. He further added that "The communication bottleneck will be removed with the use of satellite phones deep inside the park."

BSNL has trained up the forest personnel on how to operate the satellite phones in shadow areas and grooves where mobile phones do not function.

"The satellite phones will be immensely useful for coordination. There shouldn’t be barriers to communication and hence using satellite phones is a necessity in KNP with a sprawling area. The satellite phones will give an edge to the forest personnel over the poachers and also during emergencies like floods," said Forst Minister Parimal Suklaibaidya.

Read:Rhino calves rescued during floods in Kaziranga to move to Manas Tiger Reserve