‘Remote Kanha tracts new Maoist refuge’
BHOPAL/RAJANANDGAON: Remote sections of Madhya Pradesh’s Kanha National Park, a top tourist destination as a tiger reserve, are the new refuge of Maoists, according to security forces battling them in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
MP officials, however, insist that the Maoist presence is mostly limited to Chhattisgarh forests bordering the 960 sq km park, or Kanha Tiger Reserve.
Members of the CPI(Maoist) Vistaar Dalam (area expansion brigade, formed about two years ago) stamped their presence in Kanha on February 12, attacking two forest posts, police said.
The rebels beat up forest guards, snatched their wireless set and mobiles, and set fire to their maps and topography sheets. This was the first time Maoists attacked Kanha staff. Both the posts were in the tribaldominated Mandla district.
The Vistaar Dalam has a presence in Balaghat, the only MP district affected by left-wing extremism, by the Centre’s reckoning. Both Balaghat and Mandla districts border Chhattisgarh.
“The Maoists wanted to intimidate the guards. This is a familiar, initial strategy. Their goal is to ensure forest guards do not report their presence to seniors,” said an intelligence officer who tracks left-wing extremism. The officer did not want to be named.
Another attack in Kanha took place on March 2, when a semipermanent forest at Lathawar, also in Mandla district, was set on fire. “Their plan to penetrate Kanha is not new. They have been working on this for over a decade,” said the intelligence officer.
“In 2006, security forces recovered more than 30 pages of a typed document from the jungles of Chuuikhadan (Rajnandgaon). These listed Maoist plans to build a new corridor in Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori on the Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh (MMC) tri-junction.” This so-called MMC corridor, which includes Kanha, is a new worry for security forces, who believe Maoists are building this to escape the crackdown in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region.
GP Singh, inspector general of police, Durg, Chhattisgarh, said, “It is a fact that Maoists are making Kanha National Park a safe haven. The recent attacks in the tiger reserve are examples.”
WHAT WORRIES FORCES
Chhattisgarh police have intelligence that the Vistaar Dalam has grown from a few members to around 180. “Gathering intelligence is a nightmare. Nearly 80% of the park is not explorable and Maoists are banking on this,” said a senior police officer. He, too, did not want to be named.
Referring to the attacks, he said, “It means Maoists have done their mapping and want to establish a base. They’re eyeing Kanha and it will be naive to deny this.”
COPS PLAY DOWN FEAR
Makrand Deouskar, inspector general of police (intelligence), MP, said the presence of Maoists in Kanha was an “important” development, but denied the “safe haven” fears of Chhattisgarh police. “No local has joined the Maoists and they are not getting support from the villagers.”
The park’s field director, Sanjay Shukla, said, “Kanha is not a safe haven for Maoists. They are active mostly in Kawardha and Mungeli (in Chhattisgarh). Teenpani chowki area, where an attack took place on February 12, is also close to Chhattisgarh.”
Contrary to police belief that Maoists set the Lathawar post on fire, Shukla said, “We think it was the handiwork of local villagers.”
He said tourism would not be affected in any way. “Tourism is confined mostly to western parts of Kanha. There is little tourism in Phen sanctuary or the eastern parts adjoining Chhattisgarh.”
Kanha has more than 85 tigers, according to OP Mishra, in-charge of the tourism section in the park. “Kanha attracted 140,000 tourists in 2017,” he said.
Chhattisgarh, too, has a national park-tiger reserve adjoining Kanha. The state announced the Bhoramdeo Tiger Reserve in 2017. Tigers have not been spotted in Bhoramdeo, but officials expect the ones in Kanha will, in due course, move in.