Three days on, leopard remains at large Greater Noida society; some residents move out of condominium

Three days after the forest department launched a search, the leopard remains at large at Ajnara Le Garden society in Greater Noida West on Thursday

Three days after the forest department launched a search, the leopard remains at large at Ajnara Le Garden society in Greater Noida West on Thursday.

Noida forest officials at Ajnara Le Garden society are increasing vigilance on the upper floors of the under-construction towers. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

While forest department officials said they have now changed their strategy to catch the big cat, some residents have left the high-rise housing society while others stay confined at home, though home deliveries resumed for essential items from Thursday.

“According to our new strategy, we are increasing vigilance on the upper floors of the under-construction towers rather than only focusing on the basement. We used a drone camera to check the upper floors and get an aerial view of the whole area, but had no luck in spotting the leopard. We have also installed four more CCTV cameras in the basement to increase vigilance and five trap cameras in the basement as well as the movement path where the wild cat was last spotted,” said PK Srivastava, divisional forest officer.

Trap cameras have night vision and identify movement using thermal infrared rays, he added. However, this raised another problem as stray dogs in the area interfered with the trap camera’s footage. “A team of volunteers was sent to remove stray dogs from the area. On Thursday, four dogs were removed and more still will be removed on Friday,” Srivastava added.

He said the basement of the under-construction towers is connected to the other towers, which are now being barricaded. “We earlier blocked the seven exits of the basement but now the entire basement area is being barricaded to restrict the leopard’s movement. The basement area under construction is being barricaded away from the underground part of the occupied and constructed towers,” he said.

A team of forest rangers from Agra also joined the search operation on Thursday.

The forest department has also asked for a hydraulic platform from the fire department to obtain better visibility in the upper towers. “We will use the platform to see the upper towers of the 17-storey towers on Friday,” said Srivastava.

Pradeep Kumar Chaubey, chief fire officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, confirmed that the forest department has requested a hydraulic platform to assist in the search for the leopard. “The hydraulic platforms can go up to a height of 42 metres, which is approximately the 15th or 16th floor, depending on the height of each floor. The forest department officials want to see each floor by getting on the hydraulic platform in order to catch the leopard and assess its location,” said Chaubey.

A request for permission to use the hydraulic platforms has been sent from the district fire department to higher officials in Lucknow, he added. “On Friday, we will provide the forest department our hydraulic platform,” said Chaubey.

However, if the leopard is still not caught on Friday, the forest department is going to barricade the floors of the under-construction towers, Srivastava said.

“We want to limit the space of leopard movement so we will slowly barricade the floors, too,” he said.

Meanwhile, residents of the society said their day-today life remains disrupted. (Do they go to work, do all stay confined at home, is it personal choice or directions of forest department/police?)

“A number of families in the society who have relatives living nearby have moved out for a few days until the leopard is caught. But for those of us who have nowhere else to go, none of us has been able to leave our house. Earlier, home deliveries were suspended but from Thursday, they were allowed as we were finding it difficult to manage without groceries and other essential items,” said Mukesh Gupta, a resident.

What is forest department’s latest assessment about the leopard sighting at the society on December 26? Is it the same leopard? Also, has anyone seen the leopard after it was recorded by security guards in the basement on January 3?