Manuguru: Beware! Tiger sighted at SCCL's opencast mine

Manuguru: A tiger was spotted in the early hours of Thursday near the SCLC's PK OC-II opencast mine at Manuguru, in the district.

According to officials, at around 3 am in the pipe yard of the mine, the animal was spotted by a private security guard, Veeraiah. He then alerted the officials at the SCCL and the mine employees.

The Forest Divisional Officer (FDO), Manuguru, T Venu Babu, Forest Range Officer G Prasada Rao, Section Officer Hari Prashanth and SCCL Manuguru Area General Manager Jakkam Ramesh reached the spot upon receiving the information about a tiger being sighted. The officials examined and weighed the markings of the tiger pug and informed the higher officials about the same.

Addressing the media, Venu Babu called on the locals asking them to not do any damage to the big cat. As the animal moved in the field, he cautioned the public to be vigilant and not venture into the woods and their surroundings at night. The forest department would extend proper compensation to the cattle owners if the tiger kills cattle, he said.

It can be recalled that tiger pug marks were first spotted in Karakagudem, Allapalli, Manuguru and Gundala mandals in Kothagudem district in the second and third weeks of November. Since then, the authorities have been asked to monitor the animal's movements.

The tiger was again seen traveling from Sarapaka Pushkaravanam to Nagineniprolu village in Burgampahad mandal on November 26, 27 and near the forests at Ramachandrapuram in Aswapuram mandal.

To capture the tiger movements, CCTV cameras were mounted near the waterholes in the forests in the divisions of Yellandu, Paloncha and Manuguru, but the cameras have not yet captured the tiger, said the forest officials.