BHOPAL: At least 13 forest department personnel and villagers were injured, two struck with arrows when a state forest department team was attacked by those indulging in illegal felling of trees in the forests in the Nepanagar area of Burhanpur district in southwestern Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
The incident took place when a forest department team entered the forest near Ghaghrala village, following repeated reports of tribals from other areas squatting on forest land and indulging in the illegal felling of trees.
According to the inspector general of police (IG-Indore Rural Range) Rakesh Gupta, around 150-200 men inside the forests, who were armed with bows and arrows, gofans (sling-like projectile weapons) attacked the forest department team.
Around 13 people, including residents of Ghaghrala village were injured. Unconfirmed reports, however, suggested that those indulging in illegal tree felling also fired from illicit firearms, while attacking the forest department team. The encroachers were also reportedly armed with crude bombs. Those injured in the attack were admitted at Burhanpur District Hospital, where the condition of all injured, is stable.
“A big police team, comprising both district police force as well as special armed force (SAF) of state police, led by the Burhanpur district police superintendent Rahul Lodha, has been pressed into action,” the IG-Indore Rural Range told this daily. A few months back, service guns were looted from a forest department outpost in the same forest area. However, all the guns were later recovered by police.