Weeks after a leopard was spotted within the city limits in Karnataka’s Belagavi, on Sunday a group of women from the Congress “attempted” to enter the Golf Course area here to “capture” the wild animal in a bid to mock the state and district administration’s failure to catch the animal.
Armed with sticks, at least 10 women workers from the Congress asked the Golf Course gatekeeper to allow them inside the premises where the leopard was last seen almost a week ago.
“We have come to the Golf Course to express the people’s anguish as even after completion of three weeks, the government has failed to trap the animal,”Shahidha Khan, an office bearer of the Belagavi City Women’s Block of the Congress said.
“Forest minister Umesh Katti who represents Hukkeri constituency from the district to the state assembly is not serious about the matter,” she alleged. “People in the vicinity of the Golf Course are living in fear. The animal can enter the residential area easily,” she added. She claimed that the attempt to enter the golf course was not to hamper operations but to highlight the lack of concern by the minister.
The women were asked to leave as the area is attached to the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment
{{/usCountry}}The women were asked to leave as the area is attached to the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment
{{/usCountry}}The leopard had attacked and injured a construction worker on August 5 in Jadav Nagar, just 100 meters from the DC’s official residence, and since then border district has been put on high alert with schools, colleges and other institutions remaining closed as a precaution.
In another developement, on Sunday, the number of people involved in the operation to catch the leopard were also reduced, according to authorities.
“Those sent home were the personnel deployed outside the Golf Course and the same amount of the additional staff is ready to rush for the operation in case of emergency,” Mallinath Kusanal, the assistant conservator of forest and second in command for the operation said.
Out of the 200 on-field staff involved in the operation since the beginning of the month, at least 120 were given the day off on Sunday.
“The leopard did not show up in the same place where it was last spotted. There are thousands of vehicles plying on the roads adjoining the Golf Course and that is likely the reason for it not showing up here. A calm atmosphere is required to bring out the animal,” Kusanal said.
At least 22 schools and several other small business establishments have remained closed for almost a month now due to the inability of the forest department to capture the big cat.
Due to the delay, the netizens have also slammed the authorities on social media. A few users while ridiculing the authorities shared posts calling the leopard a ‘resident’ of the city and morphed its image onto an Aadhaar card with the name ‘Bibtya Belgaonkar’.( In Marathi, Bibtya means leopard and Belagounkar means from Belagavi)
They have even morphed the leopard’s image on ration card, voter ID and created a fake bank account.
Meanwhile, Karnataka’s minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Umesh Katti had previously criticised the process, stating that the department had sent “pig catchers” to capture the leopard.
However, Katti added: “All the facilities, including protective outfits and weapons will be provided to the operating troops to catch the animal alive.” “The leopard will be captured soon,” he assured.
“The animal escaped as both the police and forest department had no previous experience. Most among them have seen such a wild animal for the first time and such an operation is also being carried out for the first time in this part of the state,” said Belagavi deputy commissioner Nitesh Patil.