Adilabad: Unrest and fear is mounting among adivasis in particular and people living in the forest areas in general following reports of a tiger’s movements in their areas in erstwhile Adilabad district.
Adivasis charge that forest officials are deliberately avoiding efforts to catch the tiger.
Adding fuel is the recent statement by Adilabad MP Soyam Bapurao that adivasis must hunt the tiger as the animal was killing the tribe, though they worship the big cat as ‘Vagoba and Duvval’ in Gondi.
Bapurao alleges that as part of a well-hatched conspiracy, forest officials released tigers in the agency areas so that they could adivasis from the forest and prevent issuing pattas for the podu agriculture lands they have been cultivating for generations together.
There is aguish among them, particularly after it was confirmed that the tiger had killed one Adivasi youth and a girl in two separate incidents.
However, forest officials are tight-lipped on the increase in tiger movement and about them attacking human beings.
Adivasis says that there are no serious efforts from forest officials to resolve the man-animal conflict in the agency areas, especially Komaram Bheem Asifabad.
It is said that the forest department is planning to catch the tiger and later release the animal somewhere else.
The movement of the tiger has now spread across north Telangana districts and it was reportedly spotted in Mulugu, Jayashankar Bhoopalpalli, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Komaram Bheem Asifabad and Mancherial, and Adilabad districts in the state.
It is learnt that Bapurao is likely to visit the villages where two persons were killed by the tiger in Bejjur and Penchikalpet mandals.
