Manas National Park has 103 of 466 staff posts lying vacant

Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam is running with 103 of its 466 sanctioned posts vacant, a gap of about 22 per cent, according to official data reported by The Assam Tribune on Monday.

The figures were obtained by RTI activist Rohit Choudhury and cover both gazetted and non-gazetted staff at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which straddles the Bhutan border in lower Assam.

Where the gaps are

The vacancies cut across field and support roles. They include 19 game watchers, 12 forest guards, 11 mahouts, nine each of forester grade 1 and grade 2, eight grasscutters, six drivers, five junior assistants at the director's level, four chowkidars and two deputy rangers, along with a forest ranger, a research officer and a veterinary field assistant.

Some posts, such as research officer, junior assistant/ranger assistant and veterinary field assistant, are fully vacant, the report said. The shortage of foresters, who lead patrolling on the ground, is among the most serious.

An RTI runaround

According to the report, the park's field director's office replied on September 28 that the information was "voluminous" and spread across many files, and invited the applicant to inspect the records in person instead of supplying copies. The office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden then supplied the same data in a one-page reply dated September 30.

Better than 2023, still short

Forest sources quoted in the report said staffing has improved. In 2023, they said, about 55 per cent of posts were vacant (160 out of a sanctioned 294 at the time), and another 25 staff could not be sent on field duty because of age or illness.

That shortage was serious enough that a security assessment team for a planned reintroduction of 25 rhinos into Manas, approved by the State Board of Wildlife, did not clear the exercise, the sources said. The park also saw rhino and elephant poaching incidents around that period.

The state forest department has not publicly commented on the latest figures or on plans to fill the posts.