SHILLONG: The possible snatching away of arms by militants has prevented the Civil Defence and Home Guards department from providing armed home guard personnel to assist the forest guards in Garo Hills.
An official source said that the Civil Defence and Home Guards department had written to the forest department informing about its inability to provide armed personnel to help the ill equipped forest guards posted in militant infested Garo Hills.
There is also no plan on the part of the forest department to provide sophisticated weapons to the forest guards who are currently using obsolete weapons to guard the vast forest areas which are under threat from armed poachers and militants.
Several cases of tree felling are being reported from parts of Garo Hills as the helpless forest guards dare not take on the timber mafia.
The ) illegal activities of the smugglers are carried out mostly at night.
It may be mentioned that besides kidnapping of forest officials, there have been instances of militants snatching away weapons of the forest guards in the past.
Neither the armed police nor the Home Guard personnel want to provide assistance to the vulnerable forest guards since there are chances of militants snatching away the weapons as was the case in the past, the official source added.
