Jungle Mahal, once the hotbed of Maoists in Bengal overlapping with Jharkhand, has academics at the Dr Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute in Ranchi worried.

The institute failed to get response from colleges or varsity departments on a research project on the tribal history of Jungle Mahal.

The project aims at reconstructing the tribal history of the region covering Jhargram, Bankura (Bengal), Manbhum (now divided into Purulia, Bokaro and Dhanbad (the last two in Jharkhand), Singhbhum and Dhalbhum (Jharkhand), besides part of Burdwan (Bengal) from the ancient to the British eras.

TRI director Ranendra Kumar told this reporter that they had invited expressions of interest from colleges or university departments in vain. “We have now extended the date of offers till the first week of November,” he said.

Since a major part of the region falls in Bengal, they expected colleges or universities from the state to be interested, Kumar said. “But maybe our notices did not reach the right people. We have now written to some prominent universities of Bengal, asking if they would be interested,” he said.

Jungle Mahal was formed by the British in 1805 that comprised British possessions, a few independent fiefdoms and parts of Chotanagpur. Not much is known about the region before the colonial era.