Mysuru: With the aim of controlling the leopard menace, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rajendra K. V. has given instructions to officials to complete the sugarcane harvesting in next 15 days.
At an emergency meeting held in the Deputy Commissioner’s Office on Sunday January 22 to catch the leopard which claimed two lives in last five days the DC instructed to harvest crop soon. When the DC asked for information about the area of full grown sugarcane grown by the farmers in T. Narasipura Taluk, officials of Bannari Amman Sugar Factory informed the DC that there are 200 acres of sugarcane ready for harvesting.
The leopard menace is increasing in Sosale Hobali of T. Narasipura Taluk and the DC has given instructions to harvest sugarcane which has ripened in Sosale Hobli first. Sugar factory officials said that a total of 19 teams are engaged in sugarcane harvesting. They explained that each team was harvesting 15 tonnes.
The DC directed to increase the existing 19 teams to 30 teams and take immediate action to harvest a maximum of 60 tonnes per day. Joint Director of Food and civil Supplies Department, T. Narsipura Tahasildar take action to monitor the progress report of daily harvest statistics and instructed to submit the daily report to the DC’s Office.
In the month of December last, the DC had issued an order to the farmers to harvest sugarcane due to the increased threat of leopards in the District. This order was made on the request of the Forest Officers after the leopard menace increased. The DC had instructed to urgently harvest sugarcane in 40 villages under the jurisdiction of 23 Gram Panchayats of T. Narsipura Taluk.
On October 31, 2022, a young man named Manjunath of M. L. Hundi Village of Sosale Hobali under T. Narsipura Taluk was attacked by a leopard. The young man was seriously injured by the leopard attack and died. On December 1, 2022, Meghna of S. Kebbehundi Village died after being attacked by a leopard. Alarmed by all these incidents, the Forest Department has started an operation to capture the leopard. The sugarcane grown in the farms of the villages here has become a problem in the capture of leopards, and the sugarcane has to be harvested to enable easy combing operation of forest department.
