NEW DELHI, NOV 17: Bumbooram is still untraceable, but the war over his whereabouts has already had its first casualty. Tiger man Fateh Singh Rathore, who brought the lack of sighting of Bill Clinton's tiger to the notice of the national media, has been banned from entering the Park by miffed authorities.``They are asking me how can you say this? I told them, I am a citizen of India and I can say anything I want. You prove that the tiger is here,'' Rathore says. The officials have responded by dashing off a letter (a copy of which is with The Indian Express) to ``concerned officials that since Fateh Singh Rathore's term as Honorary Field Director expired in April this year, his vehicle should no longer be allowed to enter the Park''.An infuriated Rathore insists that this is the Park's way of getting back at him for raising questions about Bumbooram's whereabouts. ``Otherwise, they should have banned my entry when my term ended, why now? Also, there are other honorary wildlife wardens whose terms have also ended, but they are being allowed to go in. So why stop me?''He added that officials had similarly banned him when he first talked about nine missing tigers in the early 1990s, while the tigers were actually missing and a huge poaching business was found to be the cause.Interestingly, Field Director of the Park Rajeev Tyagi and Deputy Director G.V. Reddy denied having issued any orders to ban Rathore from the Park. ``It is true that his term has ended, but until we receive intimidation from the government that they have appointed a new honorary warden, Fateh Singh Rathore can continue to go about his duties,'' said Reddy. He also adds: ``Honorary wardens not only know the jungle, they are also our link with the people. If we ban them, we will spoil relations with the people.'' This when the letter clearly states that Rathore would not be allowed entry into the Park.This is not the first time this year that Rathore, the country's original tiger man who was described by Project Tiger's P.K. Sen as ``the architect of the Park'', has ruffled the feathers of officials. His accompanying Clinton on his tour of Ranthambore had also created resentment - in fact, an inquiry had been set up asking why it was Rathore who got to accompany the US President.According to sources, the officials, besides being miffed about embarrassing questions about Bumbooram, are also not happy over the Government contemplating transferring charge of the entry of tourists to the Park from the Forest Department to the Tourism Department. While Reddy said he did not want to comment on such a proposal, he did not deny it.But a source closely connected with the Tourism Ministry said: ``Obviously, the officials have been paying more attention to petty details relating to tourism - like whose vehicles should go in and whose should not - instead of patrolling the Park. When Rathore brought up the question of Bumbooram, they were only exposed.''
