Ministry urged to soon transfer management of KNP

Kupang (ANTARA) - The local government of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) has called on the Environment and Forestry Ministry to hand over the management of Komodo National Park (KNP) to the province with immediate effect.

"Governor of NTT (Viktor B. Laiskodat) has urged that the management authority of Komodo National Park be soon handed over to the NTT provincial government, so it can be managed closely," Head of the NTT Provincial Government Public Relations Marius A. Jelamu remarked here on Thursday (28/3).

Jelamu opined that the complete handover of the park's management will enable the local government to enhance supervision to curb and prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents, such as land fires in the park's area.

He cited examples of such incidents in the national park, including the fire on Gili Lawa Hill, the food of Komodos being stolen as well as several of them going missing from the park, and video filming in the area of the national park.

He believed that such incidents exposed the ministry's ineptness to conduct thorough supervision and management of the Komodo National Park .

"Those incidents have shown Indonesia in a poor light to the world and speaks volumes of its incapability to maintain the precious and world-recognized national park, and this is a matter of grave concern," he pointed out.

With the Komodo dragon smuggling case coming to light, the NTT local government has urged the NTT Regional Police and West Manggarai local Police to conduct further investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The East Java Regional Police thwarted an attempt to smuggle 41 Komodos abroad to be sold at Rp500 million each by an international smuggling network operational since 2016.

The police revealed that the smugglers stole the Komodo dragon hatchlings after killing their mothers.