GUNJALA: The farmers of Gollaghat-Tamsi village in Bheempur Mandal, who were panicked with the movement of four tigers in their locality, burnt dry grass in their agriculture fields to chase the migrated big cats away from their agriculture fields and the area in Adilabad district on Saturday.
Fearing that the farm works and the crops will be affected by the movement of the migrated tigers that have been wandering in their area for many days, the distressed farmers in the area are trying every possible way to send back them to their original habitat Tippeshwar Tiger Reserve in bordering Maharashtra.
Two days ago, a tigress and three cubs entered the forests of the Gollaghat Thamsi area and now they are moving around the Vadur village.
R. Purushatham, who owns ten acres of land located on the banks of river Penganga, said that he left his land barren due to frequent movement of the tigers in and around his field and farm workers were also afraid of working on his land with the fear of tiger attacks, he lamented.
He said some farmers were ready to sell their lands to the forest department to develop them for tiger conservation. As the tigers and wild bears are afraid of fire, some farmers are burning dry grass to chase away the wild animals to avoid their lands becoming a habitat for the migrating tigers.
Meanwhile, some forest staff, while fixing camera traps, encountered the tigers on Saturday morning. Recalling the horrific experience, Ahmed Khan, forest section officer of Thamsi, said their group was about 40 metres away from the roaring mother tigress with its cubs and narrowly escaped from its attack by immediately leaving the place.
Badavath Sajanlal, a beat officer, said that he was lucky enough to be alive even though moving closer to the wild animals.
