Guwahati News Desk: Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam becomes the first national park in India to be equipped with satellite phones.
It was on Wednesday, when the Chief Secretary of Assam, Jishnu Barua, handed over 10 satellite phones to the forest personnel of the Kaziranga National Park.
However, the decision to provide satellite phones to the forest personnel of the park was taken at a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, at the Kaziranga National Park on May 27. The meeting was further attended by Minister for Environment and Forest, Parimal Suklaibaidya, Keshab Mahanta and Atul Bora, the director of Kaziranga National Park and deputy commissioners of adjoining districts. Other senior officials of the forest department were also present in the meet.
According to an official of the Kaziranga National Park, the step to equip the forest personnel with satellite phones will be boosting anti-poaching measures in the park. The official further said that the satellite phones will be used in the park’s six ranges with no wireless or poor mobile connectivity.
Minister Suklaibaidya then thanked CM Sarma for his prompt initiative in equipping the forest personnel with satellite phones.
Suklaibaidya said, “I thank the Chief Minister for realising the communication bottlenecks and taking prompt action to provide satellite phones to the park. 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 the Kaziranga National Park with a sprawling area. The satellite phones will give an edge to the forest personnel over the poachers and also during emergencies like flood.”
Meanwhile, BSNL trained the forest personnel to operate the satellite phones in shadow areas and grooves where mobile phones do not function.
Photo | Hello Guwahati