Union minister pats Assam for rhino protection

GUWAHATI: Union Minister for state environment, forest and climate change Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Sunday praised the Assam government for setting an example in protecting rhinos. He was speaking to mediapersons at the state zoo here.
He also felicitated two Assam forest department officials, Nayan Moni Saikia and Surabhi Saikia Das, for winning laurels for the state as well as the country in various sports.“Nearly 2,479 rhino horns stored in district treasuries will be destroyed on September 22 on the occasion of World Rhino Day, to bust myths and legends surrounding them and to protect rhinos from poaching. The Assam government has set an example in rhino protection and we have to give it credit for this. The rhino population has considerably increased over the years,” Choubey said.
He added that Assam had 5,246 elephants and the number has increased to 5,719. Addressing a press conference at the state BJP headquarters here, the minister said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has set a target of procuring 10 lakh metric tonne (MT) of paddy from Assam farmers in the coming years. During the previous Congress-led UPA government, 47,000 MT of paddy was bought by the FCI from Assam between 2010 and 2014, he added.
Claiming that paddy procurement from the state has increased since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government came to power at the Centre in 2014, Choubey said 2 lakh MT paddy will be bought from the state’s farmers during the current year.