New Delhi: Vantara, the Reliance-owned zoo-cum-rescue centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, has offered to build three wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Assam. In a letter to the state’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department on August 12, Vantara said that one of the three facilities it builds would be exclusively to cater to the welfare of Asian elephants. The state minister for environment and forests has said that the Assam government was ‘examining’ the proposal. The news comes just as the Assam government has decided to reduce the Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Kaziranga National Park from 10 km to one kilometre, on the claim that an extended ESZ would “affect” people living in towns nearby.Three wildlife rescue and rehab centresIn a letter dated August 12, and signed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vivaan Karani on behalf of Vantara founder Anant Ambani, Vantara wrote the government of Assam that it wanted to ‘support’ the state “in strengthening wildlife conservation”. “Recognising the ecological significance of the Assam landscape and the commendable conservation efforts of the Government of Assam and the Assam Forest Department, Shri Anant Ambani has expressed his desire to contribute towards the efforts of State Government,” the letter read.Vantara proposes to help the state government establish three wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres in the state, one of which will be exclusively for the welfare of Asian elephants. These centres are to be under the guidance and supervision of the State Forest Department, and will be handed over to the state government “free of any encumbrances”. “These facilities shall be composed of species-specific animal housing, advanced veterinary hospital, diagnostic labs and animal nutrition centres. The location, scale and configuration of each of the three Centres would be determined in consultation with the Assam Forest Department,” the letter said.State is ‘examining’ the proposalAssam’s Minister for Environment and Forests, Jayanta Mallabaruah on August 12 confirmed via a post on social media platform X that the Assam forest department had received a proposal from Vantara Foundation to establish three wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres in Assam “at its own cost”. He said that the state government was “examining” the proposal. “While we examine the proposal, we appreciate Shri Anant Ambani and the Vantara Foundation for this thoughtful initiative and their commitment to wildlife conservation,” Mallabaruah said in his post. “Assam will continue to engage with like-minded partners and institutions whose expertise and resources can complement our efforts to protect wildlife and strengthen their natural habitats.”‘Strengthening’ natural habitatsThe Assam government’s interest to “strengthen natural habitats” comes at a time when it has decided to reduce the ESZ around Kaziranga National Park, one of the most important homes of the critically endangered one-horned rhinoceros, from 10 km to one kilometre. As per law, human activities including construction and infrastructure projects are restricted in ESZs; so reducing the area under this will lift restrictions.On August 12, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended this move by the state government, according to The Hindu. Sarma told journalists in Guwahati that Retaining a 10-km ESZ around Kaziranga National Park “would affect thousands of people living in Bokakhat, Kaliabor, and other peripheral towns”, per The Hindu. Activists and local communities have already been protesting the construction of a luxury hotel right next to Kaziranga, saying they will not give up their ancestral land for the project. The state police had arrested activists including Pranab Doley on July 12 for spearheading protests; the state government later slapped a case under the National Security Act on Doley, who continues to remain in custody.Assam, rescued wildlife and VantaraIncidentally, Assam has been at the centre of several controversies in the recent past when it comes to rescued, exotic and trafficked wildlife. The state has served as a gateway for illegally trafficked wildlife coming in from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar to reach hubs like Kolkata in West Bengal. As recently as June, the state forest department arrested 11 traffickers who were illegally transporting seven endangered golden langurs. In May 2024, the transfer of a 55-year-old elephant and its calf from Manas National Park in Assam to Vantara in Jamnagar, Gujarat, had raised numerous questions, with activists asking why the injured animal had to be moved more than 3,000 km away for treatment. In 2022, a citizens collective in Guwahati had demanded that the transfer of exotic and other rescued wildlife from the Assam state zoo to Vantara be investigated.Vantara itself has been dogged by allegations of igniting illegal wildlife trade worldwide due to its demand for ‘rescued’ wildlife, according to news reports such as this one. However, Vantara had told The Wire that these allegations are “baseless” and “misleading”. In September 2025, the Supreme Court held that Vantara had committed no wrong: it said that as per a report submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) it had constituted, Vantara had not committed any illegalities in its operations or functioning, and that all allegations levelled against it, including those revolving around illegal smuggling of wildlife, fudged import permits and financial impropriety, were baseless. The Supreme Court, however, has not made the SIT’s report public.