Ludhiana residents sleepless as receding waters leave behind reptilian guests

Residents waking up to unfamiliar sound of hisses

With receding Sutlej waters, reptiles are making their presence felt in homes that were flooded. As residents discover snakes and monitor lizards hiding in corners and under furniture while they proceed to clean their homes of sludge, they are getting the fright of the lives.

Karamjit Singh of Allowal village said the receding water has brought its own set of problems. “After a tiresome day of cleaning the house, when we went to bed, we were woken up by the sound of hissing. We switched on the lights to find a snake making its way towards a corner which sent the women and children running out of the house in panic. We managed to catch the snake and released it near the Sutlej banks. The family spent the night outside the house. We couldn’t manage to sleep,” he said.

Monitor lizards have been spotted on Ladhowal–Hambra link roads and at Buddha Nullah near Malakpur Bet. Jarnail Singh Gill, of Bolewal Jadid village, said he has never seen so many monitor lizards in a single day.

“During monsoon, we would spot monitor lizards once a week, but in the past few days I saw a whole lot of them. Some of them even entered houses in Rajapur village,” said Gill.

Employees of the forest department, who are visiting the area, said snakes and monitor lizards were entering houses for safety as their mounds have been submerged in water.

Gurcharan Singh, of Allowal village, said that while washing his home the day before, he saw a snake underneath an almirah, and another in the kitchen. “I immediately sounded an alert and called out to other villagers. Since the snakes were small, we managed to catch them and release them some distance away,” said Gurcharan.