SANGAREDDY: Villagers living near Manjeera riverbed and adjacent forest areas are spending sleepless nights, as crocodiles and leopards are venturing into human habitats in search of food and water.
Incidents of crocodiles straying into fields came to light in sugarcane fields of Shapur, Gudoor NG Hukrana villages of Manoor mandal, and in villages surrounding Zaheerabad.
Locals spotted the crocodiles and alerted wildlife officials who caught the reptiles and released them in Manjeera river.
Over 20 incidents of leopards straying into villages and attacking cattle were reported across the district. It can be recalled that recently, a leopard entered Tukkapur of Kulcharam mandal. Their movement was also observed in Laxmapur, Royyapally and Nathnayapally, where they allegedly injured nine persons.
Villagers blame officials for not arranging water in the forest. Srinivas of Narsapur said that leopards are wandering on the outskirts of the village and they had caught a leopard with the help of a net and handed it over to forest officials. Meanwhile, the condition of the national bird, peacock is worse as recently, eight of them died due to lack of water in Chegunta. Medak and Narsapur areas.
Wildlife DFO (territorial) M Joji said 142 water tubs have been arranged in the forest and they are being filled through tankers every two to three days.
Earlier, there was no such problem, as Manjeera used to have sufficient water. But this season, Singur project reached dead storage level and Manjeera barrage has limited water left.