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Operation Bhediya: Night vigil on in Mahsi; dist admn claims to close in on wolves
The WII has deputed one of its best scientists, Dr Shaheer Khan, to Bahraich, to assist the forest team in catching the two wolves
“Soye gaye to ham nahi, Jag gaye to wo nahi’ (If we fall asleep we will die but if we stay awake then the animal will die), said 68-year-old Rajvant, a resident of Sikandarpur village, under the Mahsi Tehsil area of Bahraich district.
Holding a long wooden staff affixed with a sharp iron dart at its end, Rajvant said that his family - all seven members - sleep in the open verandah of the house as this is the only option for them. They sleep with six such sticks because the wolf could attack any one of them. And if all six are awake and armed they are enough to kill the animal, said Rajwant confidently.
Meanwhile, the forest department has requested the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to depute a wolf behaviour expert in the region, to help them out. Acting on the request the WII, an autonomous institute of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, has deputed one of its best scientists, Dr Shaheer Khan, to Bahraich to assist the forest team in catching the two wolves.
Giving details about the development, additional principal chief conservator of forests, Sanjay Pathak, said that Dr Khan holds a PhD degree in wolf behaviour. Besides theoretical knowledge, Dr Khan has a good experience of catching wolves in Maharashtra. Therefore, his experience will add a new dimension to this campaign which will help in better understanding and catching wolves, Pathak added.
Deputy forest ranger Surya Prakash who has been deployed at the command centre for ‘Operation Bhediya’, said the location of a wolf was said to be found near Pachkaudiya village and a team was trying to encircle the animal.
DM, Bahraich, Monica Rani said that along with the forest and police teams, 132 separate teams have been deployed from the block level in the area. The team includes gram panchayat secretaries, rozgar sewak, sanitary workers and Panchayat assistants. Hence, each task force comprises five to six members. To monitor the task force, sector and nodal officers were deputed at block and district level.
Giving details about the task force, the BDO said the duty of the task force has been fixed from 9 PM to 5 AM. He said duty hours were fixed after reviewing timings of attacks. Torches and sticks were provided to each task force and their main work was to patrol in the area during night. If a villager or child is found sleeping in the open, the task force has been tasked with asking them to sleep inside the house. Sometimes the task force has to put pressure on the villagers who willingly want to sleep in the open places, the BDO said.
The DM said that primary schools in the villages would also be used for housing people at night but that would be at the discretion of a villager.
Shanti Devi, 56, another resident of the same village said her grandson, Vishnu, 10, used to sleep with her. She said as there was no door in the house, she also used to sleep with a stick. She also lambasted the power supply in the area and said the power was restored around 11 PM in the area only yesterday.
Tejram, a resident of Aurahi village, said that though officials of the forest department and the district administration were making efforts to create awareness in the area, people, especially small children in the area, were scared.
Yogeshwar Singh, a resident of Sisaiya Chudamani, said a wolf had picked up one Kishan, 8, who was sleeping in a room along with his brother and sister on August 3. No door was there in the house and three other members of the family were sleeping in the open, but the wolf entered the room and lifted the boy and killed him.
Similar was the story behind almost all the killings as wolves have picked up children from the open area and from the house where no doors were fixed. 10 people including 9 children were killed and more than four dozen people, mostly children, were attacked and injured by wolves in about 32 villages under the Mahsi Tehsil area.
Taking serious note of the issue, the district administration has now geared up to fix doors and windows in the houses of the affected villages. Block development officer (BDO) Mahsi, Hemant Kumar Yadav, said that district magistrate Monica Rani has sanctioned ₹5 lakh fund from Rifle Club to fix doors in houses in the affected villages.
Block development officer, Mahsi, Hemant Kumar Yadav, said as many as 160 doors have been fixed in the affected area while the work was in progress in Sisaiya Chudamani, Kolaila, Sikandarpur, Kumharanpurwa, Nakwa, Aurahi, Singiya Naseerpur, Pure Basti Gadariya, Raipur, Garethi Gurdattsingh and Kotiya. He said the district magistrate has also issued ₹20 lakh from critical gap fund to ensure proper power supply in the affected villages.
He said a tender process has been completed for the purpose and solar lights were being installed in Sikandarpur, Sisaiya and other affected villages. He said foundations for high mast lights have also been laid and the high mast would be made functional within a week. Besides, 750 LED street lights have been installed through gram panchayats in the area.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) Ajit Pratap Singh said some information of wolf’s pugmarks was received from Sisaiya village and the team was working on it.
Meanwhile, Surya Prakash said that tracking was being done on a war footing and the whole area, which comprises about 30 to 35 villages, has been divided into three sectors. A sector in-charge has been deployed in each team whose contact numbers have been publicised to exchange every information in connection with the ongoing operation.
SHARIQ RAIS SIDDIQUI
