A camel, brought right from Rajasthan to Hailakandi for sacrifice during Wednesday’s Idd, had interestingly landed the District Forest Department in much trouble

SILCHAR, Nov 19: A camel, brought right from Rajasthan to Hailakandi for sacrifice during Wednesday’s Idd, had interestingly landed the District Forest Department in much trouble. The camel was brought to Hailakandi by one Anwar Hussain Laskar, an employee of Water Resources Department, who had in recent times, amassed huge property, thanks to his closeness with Excise Minister Gautam Roy. On Tuesday, a Guwahati-based NGO for animal rights made a hue and cry as they rescued three camels from Noonmati area. This had made Roy, who was in troubled water- IT raids in the residences of two of his close aides, cautious, and he, on Wednesday asked Anwar not to sacrifice the camel. Anwar reportedly obeyed to his master’s order. Roy’s close aide Gautam Gupta, on Wednesday itself, went to Anwar’s residence, brought the camel back and kept it in his custody. On Thursday, Gupta ceremoniously handed over the camel to DFO Dilip Das. But this had created another problem as Das said, camel was bracketed with wildlife animal category, it was rather a domestic animal, and hence, Forest Department was not authorized to take care of it. Das had sought intervention of the Deputy Commissioner, who had reportedly called a meeting to decide the fate of the animal.
Meanwhile, local residents had a different story to tell, they claimed that on Wednesday, one camel was sacrificed and they had received its share. Anwar had actually brought two camels, and later handed over the other to Gupta. (sentinelassam)