6 WWF volunteers abducted at Manas

[Mrudul Godbole]

6 WWF volunteers abducted at Manas
Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 7 - Security operations are under way in an area under Manas Tiger Reserve to extract six young volunteers abducted by an unidentified armed group on February 6. According to official sources, local people have joined efforts in seeking the release of the three women and three men who were volunteering for WWF-India near the Ultapani area of Kokrajhar district.
According to an WWF-India personnel, the six volunteers are Syed Naushad Zaman of Golaghat, Srabana Goswami of Guwahati, Gautam Kishore Sarma, Pallavi Chakravarty of Shillong, Pranjal Saikia of Nagaon and Tarali Goswami of Nalbari.

The volunteers were working as a team in a WWF-India survey on Tiger Occupancy in the Manas Tiger Reserve and were collaborating with a local NGO. Yesterday two others who were also abducted were released, but the six WWF volunteers were held back, he added.

Ultapani range, where the abduction took place, lies in the western part of Manas Tiger Reserve close to the border with Bhutan. The area contains difficult terrain as it is situated in the foothills of Eastern Himalaya.

A senior BTC official, who is presently in Bhutan, told The Assam Tribune over phone that all possible efforts were being made to secure the release of the young volunteers. "We have held meetings with local people, who have also demanded the safe return of the innocent volunteers," he mentioned.

He revealed that a meeting has taken place in which senior district officials were present, and added that a strategy to resolve the issue has been discussed.

Several non-governmental scientific and conservation organisations working in North East India, including WWF-India, Wildlife Trust of India, Aaranyak, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Dolphin Foundation, EcoSystems-India today appealed for the safe and immediate release of six conservation volunteers suspected to have been abducted on Sunday afternoon from the Ultapani forests in Chirang.

The NGOs hoped, "good sense will prevail and the abducted conservation volunteers will be immediately released unharmed in order to enable the civil society organisations and their workers to contribute towards nature conservation". This will ensure environmental security as well as better quality of life for all, especially for the communities living in and around the forested areas.

Our Correspondent adds: An FIR has been lodged at Bismuri OP under Kokrajhar PS in this connection. The group of WWF-India volunteers came to the area for wildlife census on January 31 and started work in collaboration with local NGOs. Police have suspected the involvement of anti-talk NDFB faction. Personnel from BSF, SSB and Army have intensified combing operations for the rescue of those abducted.

Link - The Assam Tribune Online (http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb0811/at05)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Dear All,
The good news is that the volunteers of WWF have been released. The not so good news is summarised in the head lines of the article published in The Telegraph. Sharing it below.

Sabyasachi

Rs 28 lakh paid for WWF release
ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati, Feb. 18: A sum of Rs 28 lakh was raised from “various sources” to pay the abductors of the six WWF volunteers to secure their release, something that most in the security establishment were kept in the dark about, before it was revealed at the monthly review meeting of various agencies today.

While three girls were released by the abductors — allegedly the anti-talks faction of the NDFB — after two days, the three boys were set free yesterday.

Highly placed sources said the information about the ransom was shared today at a meeting of multiple agencies, including the security forces, held at Chapakata in Bongaigaon, indicating once again that the release came not because of “sustained security operations that put the kidnappers under pressure” as claimed by police but because of the ransom paid for the boys’ release.

The meeting, which is held periodically, discussed the abduction episode among other things.

“Inputs generated from various sources revealed that Rs 28 lakh was paid for the release of the WWF volunteers,” a source said.

“The sum was raised from various sources, including official ones,” he said, without divulging the exact sources.

According to him, there was some hard bargaining with the abductors before they settled for the amount after having raised a demand for Rs 2 crore in the beginning.

He said the boys were kept at Udalguri, a place inside the 590-square km Chirang reserve forest in Kokrajhar district.

Udalguri is an encroached area and is a few kilometres from Shantipur where the three girls were earlier released.

“Whenever there is a ransom demand, bargaining starts with the kidnappers and they generally settle for about 10 per cent of the original demand, which was true of this case, too,” the source said.

Pranjal Kumar Saikia from Nagaon, who was one of the abducted volunteers, said the abductors had assured them they would not be harmed.

“They told us we had no reason to fear,” he told The Telegraph.

“They were very friendly and gave us everything right from a chessboard to a ludo set. We were also served pork and chicken,” Saikia said.

Gautam Kishore Sarma, who was taken away along with Saikia, said the 11 days in captivity were spent in fear, but it has not dented his commitment to protect wildlife and work for the environment.

“Every moment in captivity was horrible but I am ready to go back to the jungles again and complete our unfinished job of the tiger project. Once I recover from the trauma, I want to resume the work,” Gautam said, as he reached home at Borigaon village, about 16km from here around 4.30pm today.

Villagers, family members and relatives thronged the house as the news of Gautam’s safe return spread.

“We were taken hostage by a group of 15-20 armed people, all in army fatigues, and we were taken on foot for about an hour inside the thick jungles before being handed over to another group. The new group took us to another place and put us up in a tent inside the jungle. The abductors spoke in Bodo among themselves and in Assamese with us and asked us not to worry. They provided us meat to eat, chess and ludo for recreation and never threatened us,” the youth said.

“The abductors said they would not disturb us again when we restart our work,” Gautam said.

WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY HAREN KALITA FROM MANGALDOI

Source article can be found here: The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Northeast | Rs 28 lakh paid for WWF release (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110219/jsp/northeast/story_13602946.jsp)