Elephant deaths in MP: 2 Bandhavgarh reserve officials suspended for lapses

Action has been taken against reserve director Gaurav Choudhary and in-charge assistant conservator of forest (ACF) officer Fateh Singh Ninama for alleged lapses. The reserve has drawn national attention following the deaths of 10 elephants in about 72 hours.

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Sunday suspended two senior officials of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve after a high-level team that probed the death of 10 elephants inside the park submitted its report.

The report doesn't point to any pesticide or the role of “another side”, the CM said.

Action has been taken against reserve director Gaurav Choudhary and in-charge assistant conservator of forest (ACF) officer Fateh Singh Ninama for alleged lapses. The reserve has drawn national attention following the deaths of the elephants in about 72 hours.

“The high-level team has submitted its report. Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve director has been suspended for switching off his phone, not returning to work after leave and other reasons. ACF Fateh Singh Ninama has also been suspended,” the CM told PTI here.

Both have been suspended for showing laxity in performing their duties, he added.

Calling the jumbo deaths “very painful”, the CM said the government took the matter seriously and sent the forest minister and senior officials to the reserve for a probe.

Yadav said the initial report doesn’t point to any pesticide (in the food consumed by the elephants) or the involvement of “another side”. “The post-mortem report of the elephants will come in two or three days,” he added.

Officials had earlier talked about toxicity along with huge quantities of kodo millets in the stomachs of the 10 elephants that died in the reserve.

The CM on Friday night had called an emergency meeting and sent a team comprising MP forest junior minister Pradeep Ahirwar, additional chief secretary Ashok Baranwal and head of Forest Force Aseem Shrivastava to the reserve to probe the elephant deaths and submit a report.

The team returned to Bhopal on Sunday evening.

On October 29, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under the Khalil range of the reserve in Umaria district, while four died on October 30 and two on October 31.

The elephants may have died after consuming some toxic substance, as per officials. Several other teams are also probing the incidents.