By Kailash Suyal
Ramnagar: In Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett National Park, forest guards confront death daily among the wild. However, when they fall, their families and colleagues mourn silently. These unsung martyrs get only remembrance, neither any recognition nor reward.
In the last four decades, over 35 forest guards were killed while protecting the forest and wildlife in the area. But their voices often go unheard amid the roar of tigers and the silence of the forest.
The forest personnel have been killed in Corbett Tiger Reserve in a fight against poachers, illegal hunters and smugglers, besides attacks from wild animals like tigers, elephants and leopards from 1982 to 2025.
Forest authorities have built a special memorial in the Dhangadhi Interpretation Centre of Corbett in memory of these heroes. It displays names and stories of martyrdom written on stones, telling that the forests are alive not only because of trees but also because of the sacrifices of those who protect them.
“Our forest workers patrol the forests day and night. They face notorious poachers, smugglers and deadly animals. Many times this confrontation proves fatal, but their spirit does not wane. They stand firm in every weather, in every danger," said Amit Gwasakoti, Park Warden, Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Rupa Devi, wife of fallen deceased forest worker Prem Singh, who was killed in a tiger attack, said she is proud of him as he sacrificed his life in the line of duty.
“My husband died in a tiger attack in the Sanwalde area. He had gone out for duty as usual but did not return,” she said. “Now, I am working in the forest department and trying to fulfil his unfulfilled dreams.”
Singh was not alone, as there are many such forest workers who died in the wild and whose identities remained limited to remembrance and were inscribed on memorial stones.
“My father was also in the forest department. He got injured many times during patrolling, but forest workers neither get the respect nor the social security that the police or the army get. They also wear khaki. They also serve the country, but perhaps they are out of sight. That is why they are ignored,” said social worker Ganesh Rawat.
He said that the government has given jobs to the families of the martyrs in the department, but the respect and security that should have been there are missing.
When a forest guard is martyred, not just one family but the entire forest becomes an orphan. “Martyrs are not only on the border; every place where someone in uniform gives his life for his duty, that land belongs to the martyrs,” Rawat said.
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