Mayurbhanj: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change will honour three Forest department personnel of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj. Two of them will be honoured posthumously, while another will be conferred with the bravery award.
The award will be presented on the occasion of “World Tiger Day” at Corbett Tiger Reserve, Uttarakhand, on July 29.
The awards will be presented posthumously to Mathi Hansda and Bimal Kumar Jena who were shot dead by poachers in Similipal sanctuary, and Himansu Sekhar Sethy who sustained injuries in attack by wildlife criminals.
Mathi Hansda and Himansu Sethy were engaged in patrolling duty along with other Forest department personnel in Similipal when six poachers attacked them. While Hansda was shot dead, Sethi fought with the poachers and was injured. He was instrumental in getting the accused arrested.
Similarly, Bimal Kumar Jena was shot dead by poachers during patrolling inside the sanctuary in May, this year.
On the night of June 16, Hansda and his colleague Sethy heard gunshots while patrolling at night and tried to arrest six poachers. As Sethi was taking the gun away from them, suddenly a poacher shot him. Sethy rushed Hansda to Karanjia Hospital but doctors declared him brought dead.
Similarly, on the evening of May 5, Jena went patrolling along with two security assistants in the Kalsiduba area. He saw 8 to 10 poachers carrying a deer carcass and stopped them. On seeing the Forest officials, the poachers fled the spot. Sensing that they were outnumbered, Jena immediately sent word for additional forces. Before the arrival of the Forest officials, the poachers shot the forester dead and fled the scene with the dead deer.
