Leopards strike again in Chamba

April 26: Leopards have become active again this year and have already killed two eight year old children besides wounding many men and wome...

April 26: Leopards have become active again this year and have already killed two eight year old children besides wounding many men and women. On April 16, the leopard sneaked into Kadhana village of Luddu panchayat, and pounced on 8-year-old Yogesh Sharma at about 7.30 pm, while he was sitting in the veranda of his house. The leopard dragged the boy to a nearby jungle. However, the cries of the child attracted the attention of the villagers, who chased the beast. Frightened, the leopard left the child in the jungle and ran away. Yogesh was shifted to the District Hospital, Chamba, where he succumbed to his injuries the next morning.

The leopard struck again on April 20, in a village of Uteep Panchayat. He lifted a 8-year-old girl while she was in the veranda of her house and dragged her to the nearby jungle. The villagers chased the leopard, but they could not save the girl. The terror of leopard has restricted the movement of people in the area and farmers are even hesitating to collect fodder from the jungle.

Deputy Commissioner Tarun Kapoor said that the government has issued permit to kill this man-eater and has engaged over 21 hunters, including expert Dass Gupta from Solan. The district administration has also set up 12 committees comprising local hunters, village people and police contingents. Search lights have also been fixed at various strategic points in the forests. The DC said that a cash award of Rs 10,000 had been announced by the state government for killing the man-eater. This award will be given to the hunter authorised by the administration. The affected people are not happy with forest department8217;s behaviour in disbursing the relief amount to the next of the kin of the deceased children. To this, a senior officer of Forest Department said that only the DC was empowered to provide relief in such cases.

Pug marks of a leopard have also been seen in the courtyard of the residence of Chamba Superintendent of Police yesterday. This means that now the leopards were roaming about freely in the town also, which is a point of great concern.

DC has urged the people of Chamba and adjoining areas not to move alone and unguarded in the open and if possible be confined to their homes.