BHOPAL: With Madhya Pradesh’s forest minister Ramniwas Rawat being the ruling BJP’s candidate in one of the two November 13 assembly by-polls in the state, the opposition Congress -- his old party -- has targeted him over the recent deaths of ten elephants in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR).
“It’s very sad that ten elephants symbolizing Lord Ganesha died at the BTR ahead of Deepawali. We worship Lord Ganesha, but the state’s forest minister Ramniwas Rawat couldn’t protect the elephants and doesn’t want to talk about tribals living in the forest. The biggest negligence is of the forest department. The government hasn’t made arrangements for these elephants. Now there is a need to give adequate powers to the forest committees and to establish coordination with the tribals living around this Tiger Reserve area. The government should now question the careless forest officials about the death of these elephants,” the state’s leader of opposition and former MP forest minister Umang Singhar said on Friday.
The state Congress’s chief spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta too raised the issue of the elephant deaths in a bid to corner Rawat, who is the BJP candidate from Vijaypur seat of Gwalior-Chambal in the byelection on November 13.
Rawat is the six-time sitting Congress MLA from the same seat from which he resigned after being made forest minister in the current BJP regime in the state in July. He had ended his decades-long association with the Congress during the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Rawat will take on ex-BJP man Mukesh Malhotra (a tribal politician) in the by-election from the constituency which has a sizeable chunk of Saharia tribal voters. These voters who’ve largely been loyal to the BJP in the past may flock behind their man and Congress candidate this time. The Vijaypur seat also houses the Kuno National Park – the first home of cheetahs after their re-introduction in the Indian wilds in September 2022.
Standing Kodo crop destroyed in BTR jungles
Forest department staff at the BTR destroyed and burnt on Friday the standing Kodo millet crop, which was consumed in large volumes by the 13-strong elephant herd on Monday evening in an agricultural field, hours before they started dying on Tuesday.
“The autopsy of the elephants has revealed presence of large volume of Kodo in their stomach. Vets and forensic experts who conducted the autopsies suspect the role of mycotoxins in Kodo due to fungal moulds in the elephants death. But anything on this aspect will only be fully established, once the detailed reports of analysis of samples sent for forensic and other tests are out,” MP forest department’s principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF-Wildlife) Vijay N Ambade said in the BTR on Friday.
BTR deputy director PK Verma said, “According to initial autopsy reports, there is a possibility of mycotoxin present (fungal mould) in the Kodo millet crop being behind the deaths. The viscera of the elephants have been sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI-Bareilly) State Forensic Lab (SFL-Sagar). Based on their reports, further reasons can be found out. There is literature available which suggests similar incidents in the past with elephants elsewhere and the villagers too have informed about similar tragedies having happened with buffaloes and cows after they consumed raw Kodo from fields.”
