A few days after Madhya Pradesh committed itself to launching a development offensive in Naxal-affected areas, Umariya was added to the growing list of districts vulnerable to left-wing extremism when a group of 11 armed Naxalites was spotted there.But unlike Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori and Sidhi districts, Umariya houses Bandhavgarh National Park and the presence of left-wing extremists brings in its wake a very potent threat of poaching. Wildlife experts said poachers benefit because forest personnel avoid patrolling areas under Naxal influence.Sources told The Indian Express on Tuesday that 11 khaki-clad people, including two women, were spotted in Barahta, Kharata, Khairbar and Dhanwadi villages. All of them were armed.Additional DGP (Intelligence) S.K. Raut said suspected Naxalites were spotted and a combing operation had been launched in the district to flush them out. He said Umariya, Shahdol and Anuppur districts of MP were among the potential targets of Naxalites who are bent on setting up a Revolutionary Compact Zone spreading from Nepal to Tirupati.PSI G.P. Dwiwedi of the Chandiya police station said police parties visited all the villages where the group was spotted by labourers, and confirmed the information about their presence. ‘‘We received the information from villagers slightly late,’’ he admitted. He said the group was reportedly unfamiliar with the terrain but avoided interaction with the villagers. The area where the suspected Naxalites were seen is not far from the tiger rich Bandhavgarh national park. Neither police nor intelligence authorities are sure where the Naxalites disappeared.‘‘Their very presence in the close proximity of a national park should ring an alarm bell,’’ director (Central India) of Wildlife Protection Society of India Nitin Desai said. According to him, the presence of Naxalites brings down enforcement because forest staff simply avoid the armed extremists.‘‘Poachers will benefit,’’ he said, citing the example of Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra where 117 tigers were counted in the 1989 census. The district has nearly 85 per cent forest cover. ‘‘Today the presence of tiger is almost nil in the Naxal-hit district,’’ Desai said.Only recently, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan presided over a meeting of top bureaucrats and police officials from the capital and the Naxal-hit districts where it was decided to check the spread of the menace by taking up development works on a large scale. Though policing also figured as part of the strategy to tackle the menace, development dominated the discussion.
