Delhi Customs celebrates Swachh Bharat, Inaugurates Wildlife Gallery

Delhi Customs Zone celebrated Swachh Bharat and Indian Wildlife Heritage, by organizing a program ‘ARANYA’ on Friday, at New Customs House, New Delhi. The program started with the inauguration of the Wildlife Gallery "ARANYA" and showcased the rich biodiversity of India through a picture gallery of mammalian fauna and avifauna. Officers who had made significant contributions in prevention of illegal trade in wildlife were felicitated by the Chief Guest Vivek Johri, Special Secretary to Government of India & Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC).

Johri congratulated the awardees and encouraged the officers to remain vigilant about such illegal trade practices. He emphasised how the wildlife in its purest form needs to be conserved.He further appreciated that the Photo Gallery dedicated by Delhi Customs for wildlife conservationin the New Customs House has in fact, become an example of an innovative way of observing Swachhta.

The Guest of Honour Mrs. V. Rama Mathew, Member, CBIC delivered the key-note address and shared her past experience in respect of case related to illegal trade in wildlife and listed out the challenges faced by the law-enforcing agencies like Indian Customs in enforcing the prohibitions in wildlife trade. She also highlighted the fact that the experiences gained over the years have helped Customs Officers becoming more efficient in enforcing laws relating to wildlife crimes.

Earlier, the Chief Commissioner of Delhi Customs Zone, Surjit Bhujbal, IRS welcomed the dignitaries and other guests and informed that the event “Aranya” was organised to show case India’s diversity in wildlife heritage. He further said that the purest and the cleanest form are those which are found in the various natural ecosystems across the globe and Indian Customs is committed to protect and conserve it. He concluded by extolling the perseverance shown by the eminent photographers while taking these photographs.

The officers felicitated were Deepankar Aron, Commissioner, Dehradun GST; Dr. Dinesh Kumar Bisen, Additional Commissioner, Bhopal GST;  Sujit Kumar P. Sompur, Additional Commissioner,  Nachin, Bengaluru;  Merugu Suresh, Additional Commissioner, Mumbai Customs Zone II;  Isaac RimanKharkongor, Joint Commissioner, DGRI, Guwahati; Dhruva Mandalam Seshadri, Joint Commissioner,  Pune Customs; Sreejith M, Deputy Commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram GST; Spencer Mervyn Mylliem, Deputy Commissioner, Shillong GST;  Sree Hari Sankar P, Deputy Commissioner, Chennai Outer GST; Utkarsh Bir Bahadur Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mumbai GST; Amit Kumar Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mumbai Customs Zone II; Abhay Yamdagni, Senior Intelligence Officer, DGRI,  Delhi Zonal Unit;  Shiladitya Maitra, Senior Intelligence Officer, DGRI, Kolkata Zonal Unit; A. Venkatesan, Intelligence Officer, DGRI, Cochin Zonal Unit; Ramekbal Roy, Intelligence Officer, DGRI Guwahati Zonal Unit; Shyam Kumar Singh, Intelligence Officer, DGRI, Aizawl Regional Unit; A. Vikram, Preventive Officer, Chennai Customs; Jai Bharat Reddy, Preventive Officer, Chennai Customs; S. Abdul Nasser, Superintendent, Chennai Customs and K.C. Ajaya Kumar, Skipper, Chennai Customs.