[Animals] All three tiger reserves of Chhattisgarh now in Maoist territory

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Achanakmar tiger reserve now comes under a Maoist-dominated area in Chhattisgarh, after a recent classification of affected districts. The other two tiger reserves of Chhattisgarh were already in Maoist districts.

The tiger numbers in the state have dropped over the years with 46 tigers counted in the 2014 census, while the 2018 census estimated the state to have around 19 tigers.

The increasing influence of Maoist ideology and resultant insurgency in these areas is making conservation difficult and poses a threat to the animals as well as the forest department staff. Everything from installing camera traps to monitoring the tiger prey, becomes more challenging.

The threat of Maoist conflict is now looming in Chhattisgarh’s Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. The central government recently included Mungeli district, where the tiger reserve is located, in the list of Maoist-affected districts of the state.

The classification of districts affected by Maoist insurgency is done to deploy resources and plan interventions. Mungeli has been included in the list of districts that are covered under the  Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme as well as under a new category, ‘Districts of Concern’, created to counter the spread of Maoist ideology and insurgency to new areas and stop resurgence in some areas where it is controlled.

Two of the three tiger reserves in Chhattisgarh, Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Indravati Tiger Reserve, have been Maoist-dominated areas for years. Now, the increasing threat of Maoists in the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve has also increased concerns within the state Forest Department.

This comes at a time when the tiger po[CENSORED]tion in Chhattisgarh has reduced to less than half in just four years. There were 46 tigers in the state according to the 2014 tiger census, while the 2018 census estimated that the state has only 19 individuals. Since the 2018 census, three tigers have also died in the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve.

The presence of Maoists in large parts of the states has curbed the activities of the Forest Department. The department’s officials and employees avoid stepping into the forest as they fear violence from the insurgents.

The entrance of the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. The central government recently included Mungeli district, where the tiger reserve is located, in the list of Maoist-affected districts of the state. Photo by Abhishek Agrawal/Wikimedia Commons.

Regarding the presence of Maoists in the new area of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, S.P. Yadav, Additional Director General of Project Tiger in India and Member Secretary of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) told Mongabay-India, “Tiger conservation efforts will be negatively impacted due to left wing extremism. The problem causes poor presence and reach of forest front line staff in tiger reserve areas which result in poor monitoring of tigers and prey species, weakened anti-poaching activities, adversely affecting conservation efforts.”

Threat of violence hampers tourism and conservation

Indravati Tiger Reserve was the first tiger reserve to be notified in this area of Chhattisgarh in 1983. Spread over 2799.07 sq km, this tiger reserve has a core area of 1258.37 sq km and connects to Kanha in Madhya Pradesh and Pench in Maharashtra via Chhattisgarh’s Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. It is also connected to Tadoba and Sironcha in Maharashtra through Kawal in Andhra Pradesh. A part of this tiger reserve also joins Sunabeda Sanctuary in Odisha through Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve.

The Bijapur district, where this tiger reserve is located, has been dominated by Maoists for more than three decades and incidents of Maoist violence continue to happen here. On April 3 this year, 22 security-force personnel were reported to have been killed in an attack by Maoists in Bijapur. In September last year, Ratiram Patel, a range officer of Indravati Tiger Reserve posted in Bhairamgarh range, was also suspected to be killed by Maoists.

Due to Maoist violence, tourism in Indravati Tiger Reserve has been completely shut down for the last several years. Officials say it is impossible to install camera traps even in the buffer area for counting tigers. Further, the forest department has not been successful in rehabilitating or shifting even one out of 107 villages that lie in Indravati Tiger Reserve and Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve.

New challenges in new terrain

There have been reports of Maoist movement in the area of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve from time to time for the last 20 years, but the authorities always dismissed these reports. Officials say that now, when the pressure of security forces has increased on the Maoists in the Bastar area, they have started expanding their MMC Committee (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Committee) and have begun their activities in the forests of Achanakmar in Mungeli district. Spread over a total of 914.017 square kilometers, this Tiger Reserve has a core area of 626.195 square kilometers, and connects to Kanha Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh via Bhoramdev.

A leopard in Achanakmar Tiger reserve. There have been reports of Maoist movement in the area of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve from time to time for the last 20 years. Photo by Harsh.can/Wikimedia Commons.

Ratan Lal Dangi, IG Police, Bilaspur Range, says, “There is a need to increase the number of security forces in sensitive places where such activities are likely to increase in future. We do not want the Mungeli area to come under the control of Naxalites (Maoists) under any circumstances.”

However, S. Jagadeesan, field director of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, says that they have not seen any such activities in Achanakmar on the basis of which they can surely say that Maoists are active in the area.

The state’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Narasimha Rao is unaware that the state government has included Mungeli in the Maoist-affected districts, which is home to Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. He also denies any difficulty due to Maoist interference in Indravati Tiger Reserve and Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve.

On the issue of the lack of tourism in Chhattisgarh’s tiger reserves, he says, “It is not because of the Maoists but because of lack of facilities here that there is hardly any tourism here. There should be proper development, rest-houses for guests and activities to increase tourism here.”