Maneater roaming free,villagers protest

To protest against the Forest departments failure to catch the Faizabad maneater,the villagers residing near the jungle had called a hungerstrike on Thursday at Saidpur.

To protest against the Forest departments failure to catch the Faizabad maneater,the villagers residing near the jungle had called a hungerstrike on Thursday at Saidpur. Later in the day,they called it off following Sub-District Magistrate of Rudauli SN Singhs assurance that the government will take adequate steps to help them.

Most of the villagers are Scheduled Tribes and their main sources of income are tendu leaves and dry bamboo,which they usually collect from the jungle.

Ram Singh Patel,an activist leading the hungerstrike,said: The fear of the maneater has stopped us from entering the jungle,which has brought us on the verge of starvation.

Patel said they had organised the hungerstrike to open the eyes and ears of the administration to their problem.

Describing the sad state of the villagers,Hari Shankar,another activist,said: The villagers are so scared after sunset that they do not dare to go out even in an emergency. If somebody falls ill,they wait until the next morning to get medical help.

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