While the administration has failed to win the confidence of the locals of Satkosia in providing safety from man eater tigress Sundari which has so far killed two humans and hunted many domestic animals, the fear of the hostile beast keeps haunting the inhabitants of the forest villages.
To add to their trouble, the police have been after the villagers and have already arrested 19 persons for protesting the tigress. The police have filed cases against hundreds of people in the case.
Satkosia Praja Surakhya Samiti secretary Biraja Jani told, “Fearing police, we can’t hide in the forest as tigress will hunt us and at the same time, fearing the tiger we can’t hide in house as police will arrest us."
Meanwhile, schools have been closed and around 4 lakh people of Angul and Athamallik have lost their livelihoods as they don’t move out in fear of the tigress.
Satkosia Praja Surakhya Samiti president Janardan Sahu termed it as an eyewash to engage two teams from Kanha and Pench of MP after the local team failed to tranquilise the tigress. He told that in the first phase, the tranquilizer team engaged by the State Government had no experience of sedating any hostile tiger in dense forest. The team was also not well equipped to tranqulise it, Sahu alleged.
On the other hand, the silence of the officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Wildlife officials and State Forest Minister on the plight of the people has been heavily criticized by the rights activists.
Chairman, Citizen Action Forum, Santi Bardhan Mishra, in a letter to the Union Minister, Forest and Environment, urged high level inquiry on the rampant corruption in tiger translocation project. He also urged criminal proceedings against the officials, who made the translocated tigress hostile by not providing her requirements in the new location and subsequently allowed to kill two persons.
Senior lawyer RP Pattanaik, in a case at the National Human Rights Commission, prayed to provide adequate compensation to the family of the deceased and the affected people, those who have lost their livelihoods on fear of hostile tigress.
Notably, after death of two innocent villagers by tigress Sundari which was relocated from Bandhavgarh Reserve in MP to Satkosia, people have been demanding the immediate shift of the big cat. The police action to muzzle the voice of the people has received serious flaks from leaders of various political parties, including Congress and BJP.