Steps to stop deer poaching as Rash Mela starts tomorrow
Authorities of Sundarbans Forest Division have taken necessary steps to check poaching of deer during the three-day Rash Mela beginning tomorrow at Dublarchar near the Bay of Bengal.
Conventionally a festival of the Hindu community, the yearly Rash Mela at Dublarchar is celebrated with pomp and grandeur and religious fervour for the last several decades.
However, the mela (festival) also sees a large number of people from other communities, making the venue assume a festive look.
Around a lakh people from across the country and abroad, especially India, join the festival, said Conservator of Forests Akbar Hossain.
Security measures have been strengthened in the entire Sundarbans to resist poaching of deer and tigers, he said.
Members of Rapid Action Battalion, police, coastguard and forest guards were deployed since Tuesday at all key points of the forest under the East and West wings of Sundarbans Forest Division, said the forest official.
Special teams have been formed to detect professional poachers and prevent them from entering into the forest in the guise of visitors at the festival, said Mihir Kumar and Aboni Bhusan, divisional forest officers of East and West wings.
Measures have also been taken to check all modes of river transports with metal detectors and search bodies of any suspected person.
Security forces and intelligence agencies have been put on high alert at all vulnerable points of Sundarbans Forest Division to prevent criminals from carrying out destructive activities under the cover of the festival, said the two forest officials.
Dublarchar has assumed festive look as people from all walks of life started assembling on the festival venue, considered as a holy place.
On the concluding day of the Mela, devotees bathe in the seawater as part of their pilgrimage programmes.
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