Bantala: Look at any villager in Tarabha under Jagannathpur panchayat in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve, fear is writ large on the faces of children, men and women of all ages.
Panic has gripped them since the release of Sundari, a tigress, translocated to Satkosia from Bandhavgarh National Park of Madhya Pradesh. The fear has increased manifold after the tigress allegedly killed a woman.
The villagers are not only concerned about their own lives but also about their livestock. Keeping aside all other things, the locals, wielding lathis, are guarding the village. However, the indigenous Kondh dwellers, accounting for more than half of the village population, have no choice but to go into the forest.
The day when they stop it, they have to sleep without food. “We know Sundari is prowling in the forest. We also know that one day or the other, one of us might fall prey to the female big cat. But hunger is much more ferocious than the fear of the feline which is why we have to go into the forest, risking our lives,” the tribals said. “The tigress, if, God forbid, kills one of us will die. But the hunger will kill our whole family,” they added.
The government’s one rupee rice hardly sees them through beyond 10 days, the tribals lamented.
Earlier, the forest department had provided some work to these local inhabitants. After the tigress scare started ruling the roost, the department is hardly providing them with any work, shutting another option of earning livelihood.
“We are collecting forest produce like leaves, honey and resin. The money we get from selling these products keeps our pots boiling,” said the forest dwellers, who are in a cleft stick.
PNN
