Fear stalks Ananthagiri villagers as tiger kills 5 bulls
Representational picture
Paderu (ASR District): Fear has gripped villages near Anathagiri hills, with a tiger killing five bulls in one month.
There are 10 villages on the hills under Rompalli panchayat in Anantagiri mandal in the district. Many of these villages do not have proper roads and electricity facilities. All these villages are within reserve forest and Chinnakonela village is located exactly in the middle of the forest.
The first incident of the big cat killing was reported on January 3 when three bulls belonging to Somula Rama Rao and Somula Appalaraju were killed. Again, three days ago, a tiger killed two bulls of a villager Konaparthi Gangulu, while he was grazing his cattle in the forest.
The forest officials have confirmed that the bulls were killed by the tiger. District Forest Officer Vinod Kumar and Range Officer Durga Prasad visited the area.
Bhimbolu Forest Section Officer Dasari Satyam told The Hans India that they have detected tiger's movement in the camera traps. He said that they have forwarded proposals for compensation for the cattle killed in tiger attack and they are under consideration by the government.
Farmers Gangulu and Rama Rao said that they have to buy the cattle as farming activities will commence in this season and lamented they couldn't get loan anywhere. It is said that the value of each bull is above Rs 50,000. They requested the District Collector and the ITD PO to compensate for the loss.
The villagers said wild animals are roaming in villages during night as there is no electricity in these hilly villages. They were afraid of tiger attack anytime and requested to provide electricity facilities to their villages.
Rompalli Panchayat ward member Somala Appalaraju and Tribal Association secretary Konaparthi Simhachalam said that Tribals are facing several hardships without even minimum infrastructure.
District honorary president of AP Tribal Association and fifth schedule Sadhana Committee K Govinda Rao said that the District Collector should look into the plight of these villages directly.