Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Tribals being given post cards for information on Veerappan

By V.S. Palaniappan

COIMBATORE April 10. The Special Task Force of Tamil Nadu are distributing post cards among tribals for alerting it on the movements of the elusive forest brigand, Veerappan, and his gang. According to STF sources, self-addressed, unstamped post cards have been distributed among the tribals in and around Sathyamangalam and Bannari reserve forest areas as a trial-run, as these areas report lowest literacy levels. Once these tribals familarise themselves with the system, the cards will be given to those in other tribal areas.

The Intelligence wing of the STF has initiated the move to rope in more tribals as informants. After educating the tribals on the Rs 5.5-crore cash reward for information on the gang, the STF is now embarking on measures for getting vital information. To help those who are not literate, the STF is enrolling tribals at its base camp where they can choose a six-digit number and get their names registered. The number would help to identify the tribal and the area from where the card has been sent.

The STF would provide them with post cards addressed to the base camp at Sathyamangalam, and these cards without stamps would have the six-digit number written on it. The STF would pay the penalty for these unstamped cards and collect them. The system would be functioning under the direct supervision of the Additional Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu-STF, R. Nataraj. At present, nearly 300 tribals, especially those venturing into the jungles for collecting minor forest produces, firewoods and for grazing the cattle have enrolled with the STF in the new drive.

The tribals could post the cards from any small village in the fringe area of the forest or send it through someone who comes down from the hills for shopping. This would help to avoid direct contact often with the STF; tribals fear the vengeful attitude of the brigand. Based on the feedback from the tribals, forces would be rushed for combing operations.

The new system is expected to help in getting better intelligence from the core areas of the jungles, where Veerappan is suspected to move about. The post cards sent by the tribals would also serve as a document for providing rewards to tribals, if their information yielded some results.

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