AGARTALA: Tripura’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden faced suspension following the naming of a lion and lioness transported from Tripura to West Bengal.
In an official order issued by the Tripura Government on Monday, Pravin Lal Agrawal was suspended pending a disciplinary proceeding.
The order stipulated that he would be stationed at Agartala headquarters during the suspension period and could not leave without prior authorization.
The suspension of Agrawal, a seasoned IFS officer from the 1994 batch, came in the wake of a complaint lodged by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to the Calcutta High Court, asserting that the names chosen for the animals – Akbar and Sita – were offensive to religious sentiments.
The saga began when the lion and lioness, hailing from Tripura’s Sepahijala Zoo, were relocated to the North Bengal Wild Animals Park in Siliguri on February 12 as part of an animal exchange initiative.
The controversy ignited further when it was revealed that the names Akbar and Sita were recorded by Tripura Zoo authorities, with the Bengal Forest Department affirming that any alterations to the names were within Tripura’s purview.
This revelation sparked public outrage, prompting the VHP’s Bengal unit to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Jalpaiguri circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court on February 21.
The court, responding to the petition, directed a change in the names of the lion pair.
Advocate Subhankar Dutta, representing the VHP, expressed the court’s dissatisfaction with the naming choice, indicating that the issue would be further addressed by a regular bench of the High Court.
In response to the unfolding events, the Tripura government sought clarification from Agrawal, who denied any involvement in naming the animals.
