Chitwan, August 14

Staffers of Hotel Meghauli Serai Jungle Lodge in Chitwan, taken into custody by Chitwan National Park authority, today accused the CNP of showing apathy towards providing treatment to two of their colleagues, who fell ill during custody.

Chitwan National Park had taken nine employees of the hotel into its custody after a rhino was found dead in the land near the hotel premises. Of the nine kept in custody, two were taken ill. Trainer Ritesh Bhatta, who holds a post equivalent to the post of General Manager and Nature Guide Dipu Sharma, who was suffering from common cold and other ailment for the past two days, alleged that the park administration had shown negligence towards their treatment. They claimed that the park administration had failed to provide additional treatment as referred by Bharatpur Hospital.

Chitwan National Park Assistant Conservation Officer and Spokesperson Nurendra Aryal said that Bhatta and Sharma were taken to Bharatpur Hospital for blood test today and returned to the custody in Kasara after the test.

“Both were taken to the hospital to test their blood. Since the medical report will come tomorrow, we returned them to custody,” added Aryal.

A CNP source said that an investigation was launched after a ten-day remand from Chitwan District Court to file case against the nine staffers of the hotel after the rhino was found dead in front of the hotel. The postmortem report showed that the rhino had died of electrocution.

Meghauli Serai Jungle Lodge operated by Chaudhary Group, which had obtained a management contract from India-based Taj Hotels and Resorts, has started a legal move for justice to its staffers.

Advocate Kalyan Pant, who is looking into the case on behalf of the stafferss of the hotel said that nine staffers including the trainer and Nature Guide had been kept in custody at Kasara of the national park. Pant said that they would move the court for justice.

“The incident might have happened due to carelessness of a few persons or their weakness. But, not all are guilty,” Pant added.