Bantala: Protests continued to rock Satkosia for the second day Thursday after a Royal Bengal Tigress mauled a woman to death in Hatibari village inside Satkosia sanctuary under Tikarpada forest range in Angul district.
Kailashi Garnaik was taking bath in a pond when the tigress mauled her to death Wednesday.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) SMDT Raheman and SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra while talking to the irate villagers Thursday said the tigress will be sent back to Madhya Pradesh September 15.
Protesting against the woman’s death, the villagers went on a rampage and set the forest beat houses in Tikarapada forest range, the Tikarpada forest office, a forest bungalow, the ranger’s residence, forest vehicles and boats on fire following the incident.
The tension refused to abate as the villagers of Satkosia again ransacked the Pampasar forest office and Purunakote forest range office and sealed all the entry points to the sanctuary and staged road blockades in all the roads in Pampasar, Hinsirida, Jagannathpur, Purunakote, Tikarpada by burning tyres.
On being informed, the SP, ASP Jadunath Hansda and sub-collector Basudev Satpathy along with six platoons of police force rushed to the spot and tried to placate the irate villagers. The villagers refused to relent until the DFO arrived on the spot.
They relented after the SP assured them that a meeting of the Praja Surakshya Samiti with the DFO will be convened at Pampasar range office in the afternoon where all issues be discussed threadbare to find a solution to the problem.
Accordingly, the DFO accompanied by ACF Subhendu Behera and Rajkishore Swain reached the Pampasar range office at 4.30 pm where they met a delegation of Praja Surakshya Samiti led by its president Janradan Sahu, secretary Biraj Jani, advisor Dileshwar Pradhan, Tikarpada sarpanch Sumati Dalabehera, samiti member Bidyadhar Pradhan, Purunakote sarpanch Basudev Mohanty, district farmer’s cell president Bhagirathi Pradhan and discussed the issue.
The SP and DFO sought apology over the dealy in resolving the problems of Satkosia residents while announcing an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the bereaved family from the state government. The forest department will pay Rs 40,000 for performing the last rites of the deceased while the sub-collector will give away Rs 20,000 from the District Red Cross Fund. Moreover, they will recommend to the state government for further assistance to the bereaved family while the son of the deceased will be rehabilitated either in the police or the forest department, the officials said.
A special team of doctors will conduct the post-mortem while 50 forest officials and 100 policemen will be deployed to guard the villagers.
The villagers threatened to barge into the DFO’s house if the situation worsens further in the area. The SP and the DFO also announced that a meeting for further discussion on the issue with the residents will be held between September 15 and 22 with the Collector.
PNN
