With a man-eating tiger eluding forest authorities in Lakhimpur Kheri village for more than a month, locals have demanded their immediate rehabilitation to a safer place.
With a man-eating tiger eluding forest authorities in Lakhimpur Kheri district's Kaanp-Tanda village for more than a month, locals have demanded their immediate rehabilitation to a safer place.
The tiger, which entered Kaanp-Tanda through dense sugarcane fields on January 4, has so far killed four persons, including three of the village, creating an atmosphere of
terror in the belt.
"We have lost peace of mind due to the tiger. Everyone here is terrorised. We want the state government to immediately rehabilitate us to safer locations, where we can live without fear of the tiger", Narendra Singh, son of village head Jasoda Devi said.
He said the village panchayat had passed an unanimous resolution demanding rehabilitation and sent it to forest and district authorities.
"Nothing has been done so far on our request. We are awaiting positive action from government's side as our life is in danger", he said.
Kaanp-Tanda falls in the reserve forest area and even some part of Dudhwa national park. Owing to rich population of carnivorous animals like tigers and leopards besides wild elephants in the area, man-animal conflict in these areas has become a routine feature.
The tiger infested village, which lies between Sharda river and a dense forest, has a population of over 500 people and the nearest human habitat Bira is seven kms away.
The villagers complained that due to fear of tigers, they are unable to cultivate or attend to their crops adversly affecting their livelihood.
The tiger killed 13-year-old Akash of Tanda on January 4 followed by a nine-year-old girl Puja in Nahrausa village of neighbouring Pilibhit district on January 9. It again struck
the village on January 18 and killed 20-year-old Sukhvir Singh of the village, forest officials said.
The big cat killed 35-year-old Bela Devi, who had ventured into Kishanpur sanctuary forests to collect wood, on February 15.
According to forest officers, the tiger was sighted around the hutments in the village but could not cause any harm owing to the alertness of the villagers on February 16.
When asked, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), K K Singh admitted that villagers have sent a proposal that they want to move out and the District Magistrate was looking into it.
In order to avert growing man-animal conflict, the National Tiger Conservation Authority had mooted a proposal to rehabilitate the people of half a dozen villages in Kashunpur sanctuary region last year and give them financial aid.
However, the plan could not materialise following stiff opposition from villagers who did not want to leave the village of their ancestors.
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