india

Updated: Nov 04, 2019 04:24 IST

Authorities in Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district on Sunday deployed heavy police force in the Satpura Tiger Reserve as thousands of people entered the prohibited area to touch a ‘magic tree’ in a bid to get cured of their diseases.

Officials of the police and forest departments said people have been visiting the jungle to touch a Mahua tree since September 29 after a rumour that touching it would cure them of their disease.

On Sunday, thousands thronged the jungle to touch the ‘magic tree’ forcing authorities to deploy personnel from at least five police stations.

“As per our estimate, more than 60,000 people have entered the jungle. Hence, an additional police force is being summoned to control the situation,” Hoshangabad’s additional superintendent of police Ghanshyam Malviya said.

Officials, however, faced a tough time evacuating the crowd from the jungles. The influx of a large number of people from a number of villages and towns in the district led to traffic jams in the nearby Piparia town as well.

Barricades were put up to control the movement of people towards the jungle but it was of little help, said a police officer.

As police teams found it tough to control the crowd, inspector general of police Ashutosh Rai and Hoshangabad’s superintendent of police ML Chhari reached the spot to control the situation.

Satpura Tiger Reserve’s field director SK Singh said they have been facing the problem for the past one month but on Sunday it was particularly tough as there was a surge of people visiting the jungle.

“The tree is in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve but close to the revenue area, hence there is not much threat to wildlife or people immediately. But the situation may aggravate later as the size of the crowd on Sunday suggested,” Singh said.

“If they don’t listen to us, we will have to forcibly evacuate them to ensure their safety and that of wildlife too in the tiger reserve,” he added.

Singh said this was a case of superstition and was difficult to make people understand the logic at the moment.