Tiger keeps out leaders, voters in Lucknow area
Voters are huddled inside their homes, the slightest noise makes them recoil with fear. Women have stopped sitting out in the sun and children aren’t allowed to go out to play. Many have even stopped going to school.
Even political leaders are staying away: only one leader has campaigned in the area, which goes to the polls on Sunday.
Rehmankhera in Malihabad, on Lucknow’s outskirts, faces an acute tiger scare over the past one month when the big cat strolled into the area and has remained there ever since. The tiger was first sighted in the area on January 9; since then the big cat has proved smarter than wildlife officials who have been camping here for the past month.
“The tiger has preyed on a blue bull and about half a dozen calves — he even dragged one out of a cage that was set up to capture him — but could not be trapped. Everyone here is living in fear, people do not venture out after dark. Some marriages were also postponed: there is thick forest cover all around and one never knows when it will make an appearance,” says local resident Rakesh Singh.
An elephant, Roopkali, was brought in from Dudhwa National Park to help in the combing operations but has not met with any success so far.
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