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Adilabad: People in the bordering villages of Telangana and Maharashtra are gripped by fear of tiger attacks after a second incident took place at Anandguda in Lakkadkot gram panchayat — in Rajura taluk of Maharashtra.
Two separate incidents of tiger(s) killing — of two adivasi farmers — took place on the state’s borders in the last 19 days.
Farmer Kursenga Jangu, 60, was killed in Anandguda on Dec 3. In nearby Khanapur of Wankidi mandal in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, farmer Sidam Bheem had been killed on Nov.15.
In the latest incident, the farmer was picking the cotton yield. He went inside the fields after hearing some strange noises. His family members later found the body of the Kursenga Jangu.
Anandguda village headman Gedam Raghunath said farmers have stopped going to the agriculture fields for cotton-picking. The village is 4km away from the Telangana border.
“Another tiger attack took place 15 days ago in Viroor. A farmer was killed. The forest staff set up camera traps to track the tiger movement,” he said.
The tiger dragged the body of the farmer some 15 meters inside the field after killing him. Workers picking cotton in the same field heard the roar of the tiger.
Both movement of tigers and their number have increased on the borders of Telangana and Maharashtra in recent times. These tigers are entering villages on either side of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and Tipeshwar Tiger Reserve.
Meanwhile, forest staff found the carcass of four adult cubs in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve on December 4. The cause of their death was not clear.
It is suspected that the tiger that killed the farmer in Wankidi on the Telangana border was the same that killed the farmer on the Maharashtra border.
There are rumours a few tigers have become man-eaters and are actively moving along the state borders and attacking humans, mainly the farmers working in the cotton fields as this is the cotton-picking season.
Forest guard Sumedh Sinde of Viroor forest range in Maharashtra said the tiger that attacked the farmer in Anandguda was not a man-eater and the pug marks of tigers involved in the Khanapur and Anandguda incidents did not match.
He said the Maharashtra government has increased the compensation to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 15 lakh to families of those killed in tiger attacks. This decision was taken after Sudhir Mungantiwar took charge of the state forest ministry. The Telangana government is giving only Rs 5 lakh as compensation to such families.
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