During the visit of the ex-president to Kaziranga, Rs 1 crore was expended from the Tiger Conservation Fund.

The RTI query filed by activist Rohit Choudhury has revealed that the Assam government spent Rs 1.1 crore from a tiger conservation fund to pay for ex-President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to Kaziranga National Park in 2021. The amount was taken from the Kaziranga Tiger Conservation Foundation, which is funded through elephant and jeep safaris that the national park runs. The money was used to pay for food, tents, carpets and mementos during the ex-President’s visit. Rs 2,43,768 was spent on food, Rs 50,000 for tea, Rs 97,940 for an air purifier, and Rs 6.2 lakhs for a retroreflective board and memento for the ex-President. Mr Choudhury wrote to the state chief secretary alleging that not only was Rs 1.1 crore spent from the tiger foundation’s corpus on the President’s visit, but another Rs 51 lakh was diverted from a general wildlife fund.