ADILABAD: Making it clear that the big cat that attacked and killed a villager in Khanapur village of Wankidi mandal in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district was not a maneater, forest officials on Thursday said that they are yet to conclusively say whether the beast is a leopard or at tiger.
Meanwhile, villagers have begun questioning the discrepancy in the compensation offered to the family of Siddam Bheemu, the tribal who was mauled by the wild beast while working on the podu land in the forest area, by the Telangana government.
The villagers pointed out that the government of Maharashtra offers Rs 20 lakh as compensation to the family of the victim in case of death in a tiger reserve, Rs 5 lakh in case of disability and Rs 30,000 for crop loss, while the Telangana government is offering only Rs 2.5 lakh as ex gratia. They also sought protection from further attacks by wild animal.
Speaking to Express, Kawal Tiger Reserve field director CP Vinod Kumar categorically said that the wild animal was not a maneater. He said that the pugmarks found near the body of Bheemu were not clearly defined, making it difficult to identify the animal. “The pugmarks were damaged by the water released into the field. However, we have found some hairs and sent them to the forensic laboratory in Hyderabad for identification. After getting the lab report, we can confirm whether it’s a tiger or a leopard,” Vinod Kumar said.
He said that the family of the deceased will be given Rs 5 lakh as compensation. “Of this, Rs 2.50 lakh has already been deposited into their account. Apart from this, we will be providing employment to a family member of the victim,” Vinod Kumar said.
He said that 30 cameras have been installed at vantage points to catch the movement of the wild animal and around 50 forest department employees are creating awareness among the farmers to prevent any further mishap. “Our staff is regularly alerting the farmers to move in the fields in groups of eight to 10 people and make a lot of noise to scare away the wild beast,” Vinod Kumar said.
He said that after the death of Bheemu, villagers from the surrounding areas are afraid to go to their fields and are appealing to forest officials to catch the wild animal.He added that the villagers believe that it is the same animal that had killed a person in Kagaznagar division 18 days ago. “The villagers believe that it is turned into a maneater after tasting human blood. However, there are no reports of any cattle being killed by the wild beast, which are more easy prey,” Vinod Kumar said.
Interestingly, Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy, who was in Kumuram Bheem-Asifabad district to inaugurate new police station buildings on Thursday, didn’t visit Khanapur village.