Odisha to deploy dedicated armed police force in Similipal Tiger Reserve
BHUBANESWAR: In a first-of-its-kind move in the country, the Odisha government has initiated steps to deploy a dedicated company of armed police constabulary in Similipal to guard the tiger reserve in Mayurbhanj district.
A letter from Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Home Satyabrata Sahu in this regard stated that the dedicated armed police reserve (APR) with 131 personnel will be created for the constitution of the Joint Task Force (JTF) notified by the state Forest and Environment department last year for protection of the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).
Even as Assam has ‘the Special Rhino Protection Force (SRPF)’, an elite security force for the protection of one-horned rhinoceroses in Kaziranga National Park, the APR for Similipal is being considered to be a first-of-its-kind armed force specifically created for its deployment in a protected wildlife habitat.
As per the ACS Home’s letter, a company with 131 personnel will be headed by an assistant commandant and an armed inspector. It will also have three armed sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors, 30 havildars and 87 sepoys along with 3 driver havildars and as many drivers.
The posts will be created for the Mayurbhanj district and the APR personnel will be recruited under relevant rules and provisions of the Orissa Reservation of Vacancies (ORV) Act. The expenditure towards deployment of the force will be borne by the Forest and Environment department.
“This dedicated company of APR will strengthen our protection measures in the STR further. Their deployment will be significant in view of wildlife wing’s efforts to supplement the existing population of big cats in ST,” said PCCF Wildlife Prem Kumar Jha.
STR sources said though the state government had deployed a company of around 100 armed police personnel along with forest personnel in the Tiger Reserve following notification on the formation of the JTF in August 2023, the police force was withdrawn during the time of general elections and never stationed back after that citing lack of notification for creation of a separate force.
Apart from the armed constabulary, DFOs of Rairangpur, Karanjia, Baripada, the deputy directors of STR, additional SP or DSP (Operations) of Mayurbhanj and assistant conservator of Forest (ACF) in Similipal South Wildlife Division (Intelligence) are the members of the JTF.
STR field director and chairman of the JTF Prakash Chand Gogineni said formation of the dedicated armed force for Similipal will bolster their anti-poaching efforts and help in maintaining law and order within the tiger reserve. The JTF will also collect intelligence and identify people holding illegal arms and ammunition in fringe and buffer villages of STR. It will prepare a database and take comprehensive action to de-weaponise villagers, STR officials said.
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