Kathmandu, April 11:

Conservationists today visited the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation to reiterate their demand to form a panel to investigate the killing of over 250 rare birds at the Tribhuvan International Airport on March 30.

Despite pressure and public appeal from seven organisations, a meeting held at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) yesterday decided not to form any probe committee.

“We visited the ministry today and stressed on need to probe the incident. We said that the government cannot just run away from its responsibility,” said Dipendra Joshi, information officer at the IUNCN Nepal. “We were surprised to know that the department did not feel it necessary to investigate the killing of birds,” he said.

“I cannot understand how a person coming on an international flight with hundreds of birds escapes security check at the airport, leaving all the birds behind. It happens only at our airport,” he added.

KC Paudel, newly-appoi-nted director at the DNPWC, said the meeting decided that the probe committee was not necessary. “The incident was unfortunate. But we decided that investigation on the bird incident is not necessary as it will only divert the issue and people will forget everything later,” he said, adding that the authority concerned would not let it happen again.

On April 6, the WWF Nepal, Bird Conservation Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation, IUCN Nepal, Wildlife Watch Group, Nepal Forum of Environment Journalists and Lumbini Crane Sanctuary had demanded that a probe be carried out into the incident of the killing of rare birds.