Focus on blanket sellers from UP and MP Villagers asked to report movement of strangers Monsoon patrolling begun in the forests COIMBATORE: The Department of Forests is carrying out to a drive to check offences in the Pollachi forests. This follows a tip off by the Q Branch Police to the department about some gangs from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh targeting the forests in Pollachi and Mudumalai (in the Nilgiris). Warning On instructions from the Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve H.Basavaraju, a team led by Forest Ranger D.Veeramani cautioned forest dwellers and villagers against joining strangers in committing offences that included poaching and plundering forest wealth. Mr.Veeramani said that the department focussed specifically on blankets sellers from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He said 90 people who were involved in this trade lived along the main roads to Palakkad, Coimbatore and Udumalpet. The information provided to the department was that some persons from these two States approached the blankets sellers, requesting that they also be given some work as they were jobless. While selling blankets, they befriended some forest dwellers and gained access into the forests with their help to commit the offences. They were on Sunday asked to inform the Forest Department about strangers, even if they were from these two States. The villagers in the fringes of the forests were also being asked to report movement of strangers.