President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to visit the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha on Friday.

For the first time, a President is visiting the tiger reserve. The security in and around the wildlife sanctuary has been beefed up in view of the visit. The sanctuary will remain closed for two days — Thursday and Friday — for tourists because of security reasons.

All the tourist spots inside the sanctuary including Barehipani waterfall and Chahala forest resort have been made ready for the President’s visit. Murmu will visit Similipal as part of her three-day visit to her native district Mayurbhanj. This is her first visit to the district since taking charge as the President of India.

“We have made every spot ready for the President’s visit. The tiger reserve here is one of the best managed in the country. Odisha has got national recognition because of this. With the President’s visit, Similipal will be in the national focus again,” said a senior official of the forest department.

On the other hand, wildlife activists are gearing up to draw the President’s attention to the rise in poaching inside the park. “Only on Sunday, a rare melanistic tiger was found dead inside the core area of the reserve. Forest officials have said that it fell victim to infighting among the species. They said that the tiger was killed while trying to establish its territory. However, we have a few questions. In 2001-02, there were 101 tigers in the 2,750 square kilometre area of Similipal National Park. There were no reports of infighting,” said former honorary wildlife warden Bhanu Mitra Acharya.

Acharya said: “It is strange that only 18 tigers left in the area are unable to live in peace. It shows that the prey base of the tiger in Similipal has shrunk and so there is a fight among tigers. It is also to be ascertained if the forest cover in the Similipal has been reduced and this has forced tigers to move out and fight among themselves.” He said experts will also raise the issue of the tiger population before the President.