Brisk sale of hunting guns in State
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 11 2014 :
In what could be sour news and disappointing for wildlife conservationists, Manipur has been recording sale of single and double barrel guns, considered hunting weapons, at a yearly average of 25 guns.
Another disturbing angle on the gun sale that The Sangai Express survey came across was that most of the purchasers were from the hill districts, where protection of wildlife continues to be a significant challenge for the wildlife activists.
It came to light during the survey that license holders purchase the guns and ammunition from six registered shops that exist in Imphal areas.
Four of them are located in Thangal Bazar with one each at near the 1st Bn Manipur Rifles campus and new Lambulane.
According to a gun shop-owner of Thangal bazar prices of single barrel vary from Rs 16-18,000 to Rs 30,000 while double barrel guns are sold between Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 .
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Along with informing that ammunition for single and double barrel guns are priced at Rs 90 and Rs 100 per piece respectively, the shop-owner revealed that most gun owners from the hill areas possess hunting license whereas valley area purchasers own the guns as protective weapons.
Maintaining that it is mandatory to possess license issued by either by the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned or the Additional District Magistrate at the time of purchasing the gun and ammunition, he also informed that guns sold in the State are bought from companies based in Delhi, Rajasthan or Bihar.
The weapons manufactured in different States of the country are sent to Kolkata and Kanpur units of Indian Ordnance Factory for testing before the consignment are rerouted to authorised dealers for further sale by retailers.
Speculating that compared to sale of 20-30 single and double barrel guns in a calendar year by some retailers few others are on the verge commercial bankruptcy due to poor sale, the show-owner noted that significant number of people seem to be merely enquirers about the price and range of the weapons put on display.