All Assam Students' Union (AASU) today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in preventing poaching of one-horned rhinos in the state, particularly in Kaziranga National Park.
"This is not a problem of the state of Assam only, but a burning issue of national importance which has already attracted international attention and condemnations.
"One-horned rhino is not only a species of importance to the civilisation, but also a symbol of heritage and identity," AASU said in its letter to the Prime Minister.
AASU sought effective and serious initiative from the Prime Minister to tackle the problem.
"We believe, your intervention with proper serious government machineries could give a satisfactory solution to the problem and the actual background nexus of different elements could be unearthed," the students' body said.
AASU also pointed out that numerous groups and concerned citizens have been demanding effective mechanism to stop poaching, but no solution could be found so far.
"...Unfortunately no serious, effective, scientific steps have been taken by any government to stop this poaching of one-horned rhinos. Even allegations have surfaced that there is nexus of forest officials, forest employees and police, under which poaching continues," alleged AASU.
The letter mentioned that one-horned rhino is visibly surviving only in Assam and accounts for around 95 per cent of the total such animals in the world.
"Rhinos are killed to extract the horn and other body parts, which have got lucrative international value due to various buyers' beliefs," it added.
