In news- Kaziranga has become the first National Park in India to have been equipped with satellite phones.
Key updates
- The division aims to boost anti-poaching measures.
- These satellite phones will be used in pockets of the park’s six ranges with no wireless or poor mobile connectivity.
- The satellite phones will give an edge to the forest personnel over the poachers and also during emergencies like floods.
- The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) procured the ten satellite phones for the National Park at an estimated cost of Rs 16 lakh.
- The park authorities will bear the monthly expenses for the service provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
- The public is barred from using satellite phones in India.
What is a satellite phone?
- Satellite phone or sat phone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do.
- The advantage of a sat phone is that its use is not limited to areas covered by cell towers; it can be used in most or all geographic locations on the Earth’s surface.
Kaziranga National Park
- Formed in 1908 on the recommendation of Mary Curzon, the park is located on the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot.
- The national park, spread over a massive 430 sq km area and divided into six ranges in upper Assam.
- In 1985, the park was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
- It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
- Kaziranga National park is home to more than 2200 Indian one-horned rhinoceros, approximately 2/3rd of their total world population.
- It is also recognized as an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.
- The park area is circumscribed by the Brahmaputra River, which forms the northern and eastern boundaries and the Mora Diphlu, which forms the southern boundary.
- Other notable rivers within the park are the Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri.
Source: The Hindu
