BHUBANESWAR: A three-member team from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) will visit Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) on Wednesday to take stock of the situation in the wake of recent cases of poaching and killing of two foresters by the armed poachers.
The team will be headed by director general (forest) Chandra Prakash Goyal. Additional director general of National Tiger Conservation Authority YP Yadav and IG (forests) Ramesh Kumar Pandey and two other members of the team, will accompany Goyal to STR.
The team arrived in the Capital and will leave for Similipal on Wednesday. The team is mandated to make site inspections and discuss with officials of the state government regarding the incidence of poaching and killing of the forest employees, said a senior official from the wildlife wing of the Forest department.
Meanwhile, STR field director Prakash Chand Gogineni said police is interrogating 10 suspects detained in connection with the murder of Mathy Hansdah, forester of Upper Barhakamuda range of Similipal South Division last week. Joint combing operation has also been intensified.
Despite a token strike by non-gazetted officers, the STR has made alternative arrangements so that regular patrolling activities are not affected.