Curfew in 25 Uttarakhand villages after second man killed in tiger attack within one week

PTI

Kotdwar, April 17

A 75-year-old man was mauled to death by a tiger in the second such incident within a week in the Rikhnikhal block of Uttarakhand’s Pauri district, prompting the authorities to impose a night curfew in two dozen villages.

District Magistrate (Pauri) Ashish Chauhan said a curfew has been imposed in 25 villages from 7 pm to 6 am. All schools and Anganwadi centres in the area have also been ordered shut till Tuesday.

Forest Ranger Mahendra Singh Rawat said the half-eaten body of Ranveer Singh Negi was recovered by villagers on Sunday.

He lived alone at his home in Simli village in the Kalagarh Forest Division close to the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

Negi was ostensibly not responding to telephone calls from his relatives in Dehradun since Saturday, Rawat said.

The relatives informed the villagers about the matter and urged them to check up on him. When some villagers made their way to Negi’s home, they found blood stains along the way.

After a long search, they recovered the septuagenarian’s half-eaten body from the bushes around 150 metres from his home, Rawat said.

This is the second such incident in the area in three days.

Birendra Singh (72) was mauled to death by a tiger in the Dalla village, 25 kilometres from Simli, when he had gone to harvest the wheat crop in his field on April 13.

On Monday, a video surfaced in which a tiger is seen moving freely in the fields of Dalla village while cattle graze a few metres away.

Rawat, the forest ranger, said the next of kin of those killed in tiger attacks will be given Rs 4 lakh in compensation.

Kotdwar MLA Dilip Singh Kunwar has requested Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to declare the tiger a man-eater.

A Forest department official said a cage has been put up in a village to trap the tiger. The villagers have also been advised not to venture into the forests to bring fodder for their livestock.

The Animal Husbandry department has been asked to make animal feed available at people’s doorsteps for the time being.