Tiger kills two mahua collectors in Chandrapur dist

Two persons were killed in tiger attacks in Chandrapur district on Saturday. The incidents took place Brahmapuri and Sindewahi tehsils. Those killed included Anusaya Murlidhar Bankar, 63, a resident of Navegaon Khurd (Mendhki) village in Brahmapuri tehsil and Bajirao Sonule, 60, a resident of Sawargata village in Sindewahi tehsil.

Anusaya Bankar had gone to the forest area at Ekara village on Saturday morning along with other women to collect mahua flowers. They went 1.5 kilometre inside the forest while collecting flowers. All of a sudden, a tiger pounced upon Bankar and pierced its canines in her neck. She died on the spot.

On March 29 too a mahua collector identified as Jankiram Bhalavi (50) was killed in tiger attack in the same area. Bhavali and his wife Anusaya, residents of Rampuri village, had gone 2-km deep inside Ekara forest in the morning to collect mahua flowers. The tiger attacked Jankiram and dragged him nearly 500 meters away. When his wife, who was also collecting flowers some distance away, started looking for him, she found his discarded slippers, blood stains and signs of him being dragged away. As she started shouting for help, other mahua collectors also arrived to help her. People soon began searching for Jankiram and found a partially eaten body of a man in Arjuni beat.

Meanwhile, in another incident, 68-year-old Bajirao Sonule, a resident of Sawargata was killed in a tiger attack that took place near compartment number 139 at Maregaon Beat near Sawargata village. The area comes under Tambegadi Mendha Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM). Sonule too  had gone to the forest to collect mahua flowers in the morning. Around 9 am, he was attacked by a tiger. Locals informed range forest officer about the incident. Foresters rushed to the spot of incident and announced financial aid of 50,000 to the family members of victim.

People living in the forest area near Navegaon, Rampuri, Ekara, Mendhki, Ganeshpur, Sawargata, Ghot, Maregaon, Dhanora, Khairi Chak villages, depend on collection of forest produce to earn livelihood. They are now terrified to go to forest.