KENDRAPARA: Fear looms large in the villages near Bhitarkanika National Park of Kendrapara district following the death of a 17-year-old girl of Rangani village within the park suspectedly by a saltwater crocodile on Friday evening. The body of the deceased Sila Dalei is yet to be traced.
Sila and her elder sister Sumitra Dalei were reportedly grazing their goats near a creek when the incident happened. “We were grazing our goats when suddenly one of the flock entered the creek. As soon as Sila went near it to bring the goat back, a crocodile appeared from nowhere and dragged my sister into the water,” Sumitra said while narrating the harrowing incident.
Contacted, range officer of the national park Manas Dash informed that forest personnel have been engaged to locate Sila’s body. It’s been two days now but they still have not been able to trace it.“We always warn the riverside villagers not to venture into the rivers and creeks around Bhitarkanika as they are home to around 1,784 crocodiles.
The State Forest and Wildlife department has also barricaded 75 river ghats around the park and its nearby areas,” said Dash adding that the villagers have been asked not to go beyond the barricaded areas. “We will provide `4 lakh compensation to the deceased’s family,” he said.
Apparently, the human-crocodile conflict in and around the villages near Bhitarkanika has been growing at a feverish pitch with the death of five persons and injury to six in the last five months due to crocodile attack.
In July, a 62-year-old fisherman Nagamani Mallick of Kiarabanka village within the park was killed by a crocodile while he was fishing in the river. Budhiram Mallick (56) of Baranakula village also met with a similar fate while he was fishing in the Hiraghai river.
Similarly in May two other persons, Janaki Jena (54) of Jharapada village and Shiv Prasad Behera (40) of Nalapai village near Bhitarkanika died after being attacked by the reptiles.
“Bhitarkanika is largely infested with estuarine crocodiles as a result human-crocodile conflict has been rising in the nearby areas with each passing day,” said former wildlife scientist of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, BC Chaudhury.