It's time for shahtoosh shawl owners to make their prized possession legal. Environment Minister T.R. Baalu today announced this concession as part of the comprehensive amendments to the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 that seeks to treat poachers at par with drug peddlers.Moving the eagerly awaited amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha today Baalu said the ‘‘Bill seeks to increase participation of grassroot bodies and locals in wildlife management and promises to be tough on poachers’’. In response to the members’ repeated questions on shahtoosh shawls, Balu said: ‘‘I know a number of VVIPs, including members sitting on this (Opposition) and that (treasury benches) side, who possess shahtoosh shawls. They can register it with the authorities’’.Baalu said that owners of Shahtoosh and other illegal wildlife products would be given one more opportunity to declare their possession. The owners can give it away to their successors but cannot sell it off. This particular clause has been introduced following the Jammu and Kashmir government’s ban on shahtoosh sale. The Bill gives magisterial powers to wildlife authorities in checking poaching. It empowers them to impound their property and imprisonment from two to six years and a penalty of Rs 25,000.Under the bill, a National Board for Wildlife would be constituted with the Prime Minister as its ex officio chairperson. The apex authority would also have members from various wings of the government and the NGO sector. The states have also been asked to constitute their own wildlife boards.Baalu said under the new law, no zoo would be added to the existing 200. He said village level bodies such as panchayats would be involved in protection of wildlife reserves like sanctuaries and national parks. Officials of the department would have more powers to deal with enchroachers on the reserves.
