52 villages to be affected by proposed Army maneuver range in Abujhmad forest

Fifty-two villages with a population of 9,601 people will have to be evacuated for the Indian Army’s proposed maneuver range, spread across 54,543 hectares of land in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad forest, according to an internal survey of the Narayanpur district administration.

“The Army range will be covering 52 dependent villages under 13 Gram Panchayats in Kohkameta Tehsil of Narayanpur district. The proposed area is highly sensitive and consists of unsurveyed villages. Therefore, to conduct a detailed survey, it would be appropriate to issue orders from the government to deploy drones, police forces, forest department personnel, and experienced senior officials from the state level. The funds for this detailed survey work must be allocated by the state government,” an internal report of the Narayanpur district collector said. HT has seen a copy of the report.

On August 7, the Chhattisgarh Revenue and Disaster Management Department had written to the district collector regarding the establishment of the Army’s maneuver range in Abujhmad forest in the Sonpur-Garpa region of Orchha tehsil. It referred to its previous letters dated September 13, 2017, November 21, 2017, and February 17, 2021, and requested the collector to promptly send information about the Army range. The move was seen as a step towards expediting the process of establishing the maneuver range.

Abujhmad straddles between Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh and is known as ‘unknown hill’ as the 6,000 sq km of thick forest has not been surveyed since the British era. The jungle is the epicentre of Maoist activities and about a dozen senior cadres of CPI (Maoist) are said to be still camping there. There has been a spike in encounters between Maoists and security personnel in Abujhmaad in the last six months.

The district administration’s report said all the villages for the proposed Indian Army maneuver range are unsurveyed and local residents have their houses, gardens, and farms there.

“Since the villages are unsurveyed, the occupants of the land should be considered landowners, and compensation, along with resettlement measures in case of displacement, should be decided at a higher level,” the report said.

According to the district administration, there are 2,417 families (according to ration cards) and a total population of 9,601 people in these villages, while the number of houses are 2,417. The number of animal sheds is 2,417, agricultural land is around 4,834 hectares and residential land is 97 hectares.

The estimated compensation for this whole land is approximately ₹70,28,64,000, as per the report.

An Army maneuver range provides a dedicated area for tank training and simulation of various battlefield scenarios, allowing troops to hone their skills in a realistic and safe environment, said an army officer.

Chhattisgarh police officers believe that the army will not be carrying out any operation, but they will have a large area which will be dominated by them in the core area of Maoists.

The Chhattisgarh police have opened four new camps in Abhujmaad in 2024 –Maspur, Kasturmeta, Mohandi and Irrakbhati.

Chhattisgarh intelligence officials believe that most of the senior leaders of CPI ( Maoist) are camping in the southern and southwestern part of Abujmad near Maharashtra border and Narayanpur-Maharasthra-Bijapur trijunction.