Nagpur: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the body that governs all tiger reserves in the country has banned the BBC and its journalist Justin Rowlatt for five years.
The move comes in after a BBC documentary questioned India’s aggressive protection measures at Kaziranga National Park in Assam.
‘One World: Killing for Conservation’, a documentary by BBC’s South Asia Correspondent Justin Rowlatt is based on Kaziranga’s Rhino conservation methods. The documentary came in for sharp criticism from the Union Environment Ministry for being ‘grossly erroneous’ as the documentary claims that the guards in Kaziranga had been given powers to shoot and kill anyone they think was a threat to rhinos.
In a memorandum issued on Monday, NTCA said the BBC had failed to submit the documentary to MoEFCC and the MEA for obligatory previewing. It has asked chief wildlife wardens of all tiger range states and field directors of tiger reserves to disallow filming permission to BBC in any of the protected areas for a period of 5 years.
