Govt may give Aid to ‘tiger widows’

The state government is planning to announce a special package to rehabilitate women who lost their husband to tiger attack in villages surrounding the Sunderbans. Concerned by the increasing cases of tigers straying into the villages in search of food and killing people due to rapid loss of prey base,Minister of State for Sunderbans Affairs Shaymal Mondal said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had sought a report on the number of widows of tiger victims living in the villages and their economic condition. The minister said he had apprised the chief minister of the causes for the tigers’ forays into the neighbouring villages and the need for strengthening the prey base in the forest. Mondal said he had recently visited some villages in Gosaba,Kultoli and Basanti,to see for himself the condition of the widows.