Logo

Logo

Uttarakhand: Maneater leopard shot dead, but Baman Gaon may still turn into a ghost village

According to Census 2011 data, Baman Gaon has 42 houses and 183 residents, 80 of them male and 103 female. At present, however, there is only one family residing in the hill village.

Uttarakhand: Maneater leopard shot dead, but Baman Gaon may still turn into a ghost village

Specialised shooter Lakhpat Singh Rawat and other villagers with the neutralised leopard at Baman Gaon in Almora. (Photo: SNS)

Specialised shooter Lakhpat Singh Rawat shot down a man-eater leopard at a remote village in Almora district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday evening. While the leopard’s death should bring relief to the village that recently lost a resident to the predator, the ground situation at Baman Gaon is a bit difficult for outsiders to assume. The affected village, Baman Gaon, is facing a challenging situation to stay intact as an inhabited land, and not join the list of ghost villages where buildings exist but no residents live in them.

According to Census 2011 data, Baman Gaon has 42 houses and 183 residents, 80 of them male and 103 female. At present, however, there is only one family residing in the hill village. The family of three — Govandi Devi, her son Lalit Mohan Joshi and daughter-in-law — lost one member on 23 December, Sunday. Govandi Devi was killed by the leopard when she had gone to the forest to collect fodder. Her death brought down the number of Baman Gaon inhabitants to two.

The chances of Baman Gaon turning into a ghost village is now high.

Advertisement

“Baman Gaon was home to a dozen families in the past, but due to mass migration it has turned into a deserted place. Migration is a common problem in the hills,” said Almora Sub-Divisional Forest Officer Prithviraj Singh.

The maneater leopard had been active in the area for some time, creating fear among the locals.

Before Govandi Devi, another woman died a similar way in the forest recently. Heera Devi, who lived in the neighboring Seemapani village, was killed by the leopard on 17 December.

After the second incident, the forest department invited specialised shooter Lakhpat Rawat to neutralise the animal.

“The leopard was suffering from some neck infection and had broken canines,” said Rawat. Rather than running away after seeing the forest staff, he said, the leopard remained stationary, and that was when the forest department called him. Rawat rushed to the spot soon and executed what was possibly one of the easiest operations as he had to shoot a motionless leopard.

Lalit Mohan Joshi and his wife are now the only inhabitants of Baman Gaon. Whether Lalit Mohan continues to stay in the village after his mother’s death, or will migrate like all others, remains to be seen.

Advertisement