HYDERABAD: In 2015, the Central government had sanctioned the Special Tiger Protection Force for the two tiger reserves in the State—Amrabad and Kawal— with 110 armed forest guards each. Four years on, the State government, which is expected to pay 40 per cent of the costs for the establishment of the force, is yet to even approved the proposal.
Further back, in 2013, there was a proposal by the forest department to have armed strike force teams stationed in sensitive forest ranges, which also remains pending to date. The proposal is yet to even be accepted by the Telangana government, unlike the united Andhra Pradesh, when the forest department raised an armed unit of its own.
Speaking to Express, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Telangana, PK Sharma said, “In 2013, a proposal was made by the forest department which suggested that a strike force be raised in the headquarters of all vulnerable forest ranges. Having a few armed personnel will not help curb the threats against forest staff but it can help maintain law and order.
In the Kaghaznagar incident, we could see that although there were armed police personnel, they remained mute spectators when the forest range officer was being beaten up. This would not have happened if the department had its own strike force.”
A senior official of the Telangana forest department told Express, “It is completely up to the State to raise an armed unit of forest guards. This does not require a new law or amendment of an existing one. All forest department staff, from that of Indian Forest Services to the junior level ones, are trained to use weapons. Till the 1970s or 1980s, forest officers used to have weapons in Telangana region but due to the Naxalite threat, they were told to deposit the weapons with the police as the weapons could be stolen from them.”