RAIPUR, Nov. 1 -- Chhattisgarh on Sunday opened the Indravati Tiger Reserve in Bastar's Bijapur to tourists, allowing organised wildlife tourism in one of the state's most remote forests for the first time in four decades.

The move, timed to coincide with Chhattisgarh's statehood day, comes amid a significant improvement in the security situation in context of Left Wing Extremism, which has allowed officials to access areas that had remained beyond their reach for years.Bijapur in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region was among the districts known as the epicentre of the Maoist insurgency in the state.

OP Yadav, principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife), Chhattisgarh, said opening the tiger reserve to tourists was an important step to pr...