Meanwhile, understanding the magnitude of the issue, the MP state forest department’s wildlife veterinarians are in regular touch and consulting experts of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI-Bareilly), Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun), state forensic science laboratory (SFL-Sagar) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB-Hyderabad).Further, to the MP government decisions, the government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) and the state tiger strike force (STSF) of the forest department is probing the case from all possible angles.Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has demanded a full-fledged enquiry into the incident, while terming the death of the elephants as “absolutely shocking.”Congress general secretary in-charge communications and former union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh said, “The news from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve about the deaths of the elephants is shocking. This wipes out some 10 percent of the elephant population in the reserve at one go. A full inquiry must take place immediately and preventive measures must be instituted,” the former environment minister said on X, tagging Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.Importantly, the BTR which houses the densest population of tigers in MP, has also reportedly turned out to be the most preferred habitat of wild elephants, who arrived there from adjoining Chhattisgarh in 2018. Since then, their population has multiplied there and is currently stated to be over 60 in numbers.
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