The Karnataka Forest Department continues to fight a losing battle with rogue elements in the tribal community who have caused irreparable ecological damage by setting fire to Nagarhole Tiger Reserve over the last one month. Though forest officials nabbed three persons in connection with forest fires in Metikuppe range on Tuesday, the accused were let off after protests from tribal and Dalit Sangarsha Samiti leaders early on Wednesday morning. Now the forest department has ordered that the re-arrest of tribals. The first to be arrested was Kencha alias Chandrashekar, who led the forest officials to the other two. The trio revealed that they entered the forest in the night, stayed overnight and started fires early in the morning before fleeing.
All the three accused, including Krishna and Kumar, are residents of Mettikuppehaddlu. They were nabbed by RFO Satish, who had sought the consent of higher authorities before carrying out the arrests. The trio was kept in the RFO quarters for interrogation when around 300 people gathered in front of the quarters and protested demanding the immediate release of the arrested. Sources alleged that the accused also got the support of a few police officials. The area was tense till Tuesday midnight and finally, the assistant conservator of forests released the trio. A senior forest official told Deccan Chronicle: “We have now filed a complaint with the jurisdictional magistrate. We have extracted statements from the detained tribals and also have enough proof on their involvement. We can arrest them again.”
Forest Minister C.P. Yogeshwar claimed that around 1,500 hectares in Nagarhole and 2,500 hectares of forests in other parts have been burnt after the onset of summer. But figures available with Deccan Chronicle show that around 2,000 hectares have been burnt in Nagarhole alone.