There had been two dangerous incidents of attacks of a man-eater and a wild bear in different locations of Uttarakhand within two days. However, the dreaded incidents claiming human lives are a common phenomena in Uttarakhand with man-eaters roaming openly near human habitats in search of human flesh and the children, women and senior citizens including the young ones.
According to an order of forest department granting permission to the request of the furious n angered villagers of village Dabra( Majhgaon) at Damdeval, Garhwal under certain conditions to capture)/ kill the man-eater etc, a fifty five year old woman of this village was brutally killed by the man-eater under the jurisdiction of forest Amoli range, Damdeval, Pokhra block. As a result there is shock wave in an around the village with inhabitants in extreme anger n furiousness, unanimously demanding kill of the man-eater.
The man-eater seems to be around the village periphery again posing danger to the village residents n those residing in adjoining villages says the forest department’s order. The furious n badly annoyed villagers have refused to consign the deceased woman to flames demanding that they will not perform her last rights n hand over the body for postmortem etc to the authorities till they are granted assurance to their request to capture or kill the man-eater leopard/ tiger. The man-eater being extremely dangerous to the human lives need to be captured through tranquilisation in iron cages or killed said the order of forest department on the request of the villagers.
The forest department has ordered vide their letter number 4377/25-5, dated 3.2.2021 that initially efforts will be made to tranquilise or capture the man-eater in the cages n in case it is not possible they will try to get rid of him by shooting him whichever exercise suits them keeping the human safety aspect on priority. The orders will be applicable for a month’s duration and incase nothing happens during the prescribed month they will cease to exist. The forest deparent’s order in Hindi is herewith annexed for the readers’ kind perusal.
The woman was the wife of Lalit Sundriyal. According to an eye witness Vinod Raturi of the same village the Man-eater has been killed by the forest department the same evening as it was still posing direct threat to the residents of the area wandering around clandestinely in prowl for human flesh.
wife of Sundriyalji who was killed by the Man-eater at Choubattakhal, Pauri Garhwal today morning
In another incident one Jitendra Singh resident of Takoli village in Rikhnikhal block have been admitted to the Cardio department of the hospital who was gravely attacked by a wild bear. He was lucky enough to save himself though grievously injured in the face with several stitches visible.
According to the Vice President of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee Dhirendra Pratap after conducting the CT scan the lower portion ( bone) of the eye have been fractured and at present injured Jitendra has been shifted to Cardio ward.
He has been assured by doctors that plastic surgery would be conducted on his face. On speaking to the DFO of Garhwal range, Dhirendra Pratap has assured that a financial help of Rs 50 thousand have been granted in this regard with initial payment of Rs 15000 already delivered to the family of the injured Jitendra Singh.
In view of the several brutal deaths of inhabitants of Uttarakhand with the forest n wild life departments not proving to be duly competent the state govt should issue stringent orders to ensure safety n security of the innocent citizens of the state and ensure that such dreaded incidents do no occur in the near future. The government of the state should fix iron cakes in all the prospective locations where the maneaters are on prowl for human flesh and tranqulize them finally sending them to zoos n if this doesn’t work the human lives should be saved first than wild life, thus killing them after seeking due permission from the competent authorities. The state govt should give govt job to a member of the family with adequate financial compensation to the bereaved families on priority basis.
Not withstanding to all work followed on papers, there is a requirement of being practical in our approach . Govt is prepared to spend any amount on land consolidation, village development, expanding road net work, creating employment for villagers but not at all sensitive about their lives. I had been suggesting to consolidate and fence all the forests of UK and give a fearless life to the residents from wild life menace. Let the forests go green again and generate adequate food and fodder for wild lives with in the forests. The forest department and the govt is used to such accidents/ incidents. They perhaps forget death of a working hand means death of a family. Govt should give fearless enviorenment to villagers to work on their fields. Like in olden days, we use to travel carefree from one place to another during nights also.