Tripura forest guards to be armed with modern weaponry, Animesh

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, July 22, 2025

Tripura since remote antiquity had been known for its deep and lush green forest and abundance of wildlife sustained by it. The names of places like ‘Gandacherra’ (spring of rhinos), ‘Hatibagan’ (garden of elephants) bear testimony to the prevalence of wildlife in Tripura’s rich forest. There was also a time in the early seventeenth century when Mughal rulers of Delhi had requisitioned a big herd of Tripura’s elephants for their royal army and since the reigning king Jashodhar Manikya (1602-1618) failed to supply so many elephants he had been taken as prisoner to the Mughal court in Delhi but was pardoned by emperor Jehangir (1605-1627). Disgraced by the treatment meted out to him king Jashodhar Manikya did not return to his princely domain but died an ascetic in Brindaban.

Leaving aside past historical anecdotes even post-merger Tripura had a rich forest cover of more than 60% and much of it was deep forest but since then the state’s fabled forest cover started dwindling and now the situation is such that there is no deep forest cover in the state . The wild animals including elephants ,primates and even reptiles now intrude into human habitations in search of food and drinks.This has happened mostly because of poaching and forest smuggling with impunity over the past many years with the government officials turning a blind eye. Sources in the forest department said that despite almost the entire forest in the state

being prone to poaching, smuggling and deforestation the Sepahijala district has emerged as the most vulnerable corridor for forest smuggling .

However the minister for forest Animesh Debbarma who visited the Bisramganj area of Sepahijala district yesterday warned the forest smugglers and mafia elements that the government is preparing a blue-print for drastic action against destruction of forest, asserting that those indulging in deforestation activities will be sent to jail. Animesh was the chief guest in a programme of JICA held in the Sachin Debbarman Memorial Auditorium in Bisramganj yesterday. “We have already arranged for drones and surveillance of the forest by them and , in addition , the forest guard force will soon be armed with the latest fire-arms so that they can effectively challenge and drive away the forest smugglers and poachers ; this has now become an imperative in view of the depredations of the forest smugglers” said Animesh .He had taken part in the review meeting of the JICA project after pouring water on a new sapling and issued his note of warning. The programme was also attended by the CEO of JICA project Pravin Agarwal, DFO (Sepahijala) Sumit Deb , JICA director Gautam Das and the Sepahijala Zilla Sabhadhipati Supriya Das Datta.

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