ADILABAD: In yet another unfortunate incident, a 15-year-old tribal girl died on Sunday when a tiger attacked her while she was plucking cotton in a field with her family near Kondapalli village in Asifabad district. The girl and nine others of her family — including her mother P Samakka and brothers — were working in the field when the big cat pounced on her.
As the animal dragged her around 30 m into the forest, the locals made loud noises to scare it. It ran away but after some time, it returned for the body, but the villagers chased it away again. The incident took place under the Bejjur forest range.
This is second such incident in Asifabad district this month. On November 11, a tiger killed a tribal youth, Siddam Vigneshwar. The Forest Department said it was not the same tiger which killed the girl on Sunday as the one that killed Vigneshwar and returned to Maharashtra.
The department stated that the tiger did not eat any of the girl’s body parts. Also, no pug marks were found as the land was dry. Twenty camera traps have been installed around the site and inside the forest where the body was found.
Following the incident, Kondapalli sarpanch K Sanjive alleged that seven to eight tigers have been wandering in the area. He demanded that the government pay Rs 20 lakh ex gratia to the girl’s family and offer a government job to one of her relatives. Meanwhile, the Forest officials have stepped up surveillance along the Chhattisgarh border.