BHOPAL: Union minister of environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav has written to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, seeking his intervention in strengthening security at Kanha Tiger Reserve, citing the recent killing of a forest employee by Maoists.
“Considering the seriousness of the issue, I would like to bring to your notice the emerging Left Wing Extremist (LWE) activities, especially in and around Kanha Tiger Reserve,” Yadav has written.
Yadav condemned the recent killing of a young forest employee near Kanha and said, “I would request your immediate intervention to review the security situation so as to contain and avoid any such incidents in and around the forest areas. I am sure all possible measures will be adopted to ensure the safety of forest frontline staff and common citizens in MP.” He lauded the tiger conservation efforts in MP. Balaghat district police have asked for additional SAF companies to secure the Bhaiar and Khatia ranges of Kanha in Balaghat and Mandla districts.
‘Existing force not enough to meet patrolling demand in Kanha’
Kanha is a favourite with VIPs, which leads to diversion of personnel for security duty. “In such conditions, patrolling of other areas gets affected. The existing force is not enough to meet the situation,” said an officer.
The central minister’s concern was due to the March 23 incident where a young villager employed as a forest camp assistant was kidnapped and shot dead by Maoists near Kanha National Park. The body was dumped near a resort close to Kanha’s Mukki gate. The Maoist kill squad left leaflets on victim Sukhdev Parte’s body, threatening forest officers to stop ‘GPS-based’ patrolling in forest ranges. Maoists have killed three men of the same village in four months, triggering panic in the region. The Maoist leaflets had warned rangers of Mukki, Bhesanghat, Kanha, Kisli, Sari and Motinala ranges to stop GPSbased patrolling and threatened to hold rangers ‘accountable’ for intensified police search operations and “punish” them for it.
Police officers admit that a major portion of Kanha National Park is in the grip of Maoists. Forest guards don’t patrol those areas, and neither are tourists allowed there. National Park in Mandla and Balaghat Kanha National Park, straddles Mandla and Balaghat districts in MP.
