Officer suspended for naming lion pair ‘Akbar and Sita’

AGARTALA: The forest officer, who named the lion and lioness Akbar and Sita of the zoo in Bengal, has been suspended. The Tripura Government suspended Prabin Lal Agrawal, principal chief conservator of forests, amidst a controversy surrounding the names. The VHP approached the Calcutta High Court on the names given to the lions. Soon, the government took action against the Indian forest officer in connection with it.

Agarwal, a 1994 batch IFS officer, was the Tripura Chief Wild Life Warden. The lions were shifted to North Bengal from the Tripura Zoo as part of an animal exchange programme on February 12. It was Agarwal, who entered the names of the animals in the register, at that time. The Bengal Forest Department informed the Calcutta High Court that the names of the lions were given by the authorities of the Tripura Zoo. The court also directed to change the name of the lion pair following the complaint of VHP.

VHP’s plea not to keep the lion Akbar and the lioness Sita together in the Siliguri Safari Park in Bengal had sparked a major controversy. The plea of VHP Bengal unit came before Justice Sogatha Bhattacharya on February 16. The lions were recently brought here from Sepahijala Zoo in Tripura. The Bengal Forest Department explained that the names were given by Tripura and the Tripura Zoo authorities is responsible if any modification has been made.