Sanawad: Panic prevailed at Avanti Yarn Mill after a leopard barged into the mill premises jumping over a four-foot-tall boundary wall. It was around 4 am on Thursday when the big cat was spotted jumping over the boundary wall, entering the premises and hiding into the Rink Khata.
The workers who were working there saw glowing eyes in the dark and heard leopard grunt. Labourers informed that leopard attacked one Kailash, son of Ganpat Verma who went to the place for cleaning where the big cat was hiding. Kailash received injuries on his neck and was sent to Khargone for treatment. Another Jitendra Birla who was along with Kailash attempted to calm down animal with a stick he had, but failed. In an attempt to save himself from the leopard, he injured himself. The leopard jumped and holed up in the machine of Rink Khat section, broke the cement ceiling and went inside.
The injured Kailash was rushed to Civil Hospital, Sanawad where he was primarily treated and referred to Khargone. The news of the leopard entering the mill stirred up all the accounts of the mill. All the workers got out and the mill management also reached the site.
In the morning, workers of the first shift mainly comprising women gathered outside the gate but were afraid to work in the mill.
Efforts are being made to rescue the leopard. The forest department team took out a sheet of cement on the roof of the mill to know the exact location of the leopard as well as its age.
The forest team rushed to the spot
As soon as the forest department team in Indore came to know about the incident, the rescue team rushed to the spot with cages. Team closed all the doors and checked all the major and minor points from where leopard could climb up the ceiling.
The SDO of the rescue team, MS Morya said that the leopard is sitting in a place where it cannot be shot with tranquilizer, so we have to wait until it comes out.
The manager of the mill, Dharmendra Mittal, said that the authority immediately shut all the activities as soon as they came to know about the incident. As more than 350 workers work in three different sifts and we don’t want to put anyone’s life in danger, so we decided to keep entire working at the mill close until the leopard is caught.
First of its kind:
Locals informed that this is the first caseof such incident when a big cat entered into the human habitation. They added that though leopards are reclusive, they are venturing into human habitation because of dwindling prey base, habitat loss, and poaching. There it preys on dogs, sheep, goats, and young cattle. Occasionally, it attacks humans, particularly children and women.
Recently, Madhya Pradesh has been declared a leopard state following a 60 percent rise in leopard numbers in four years. Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of leopards -3,421 followed by Karnataka - 1,783 and Maharashtra -1,690. Leopard population increased in all states of central India compared to previous estimates of 2014
