After losing grounds, Maoists are now trying hard to save their positions by fostering tiger attack fear psychosis among villagers around the Satakoshia forests in Angul district.
While tribal boys and girls are not showing interest to join Maoist cadre, Red rebels from Chhattisgarh are infiltrating to Odisha for scaling up activities through the Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Angul route and taking safe resort in Satkoshia Tiger Reserve forests.
With security forces taking up major offensive against these Ultras, more and more of them are being arrested and even many are surrendering to the State police in fear.
Official record shows that 37 Maoists were arrested by June 2018, which has demoralised the Ultras.
After release of a Royal Bengal Tiger, Kanha, it has multiplied their woes as they fear that they would not be able to move safely inside the jungles.
Cadres from Chhattisgarh are not familiar with the territories of core area and buffer zones of the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
While tigers move in core area only, Maoists have faced difficulties in making shelter in those areas.
So, they are now trying to take advantage of the conflict between villagers and forest officials over release of tigers into the Satakoshia Tiger Reserve forests.
While the State Government has planned to release six more Royal Bengal Tigers (RBT) into the Satkoshia Tiger Reserve,
lWE cadres are allegedly inciting people that tigers would infiltrate their villages and provoking them to oppose relocation of RBTs in the reserve.
Interestingly, experts said that tigers would not enter villages like leopards as they don’t move out of their territories.
Forests and Environment Minister Bijayashree Routray has appealed the people time and again not to get panicked over the reallocation of tigers.