Two tiger attacks were reported in Chandrapur district on Friday, one of them killing a woman and the other injuring a youth. Sunita Kulgamwar of Hivra village was killed in Dhaba forest range early in the morning when she, along with her husband and others, was collecting tendu leaves.

The area is close to Gondpipri, where three tiger cubs were rescued in three villages last year (though there was no trace of their mother). The three cubs have since been lodged in Bor sanctuary in Wardha district. Also, Vesgaon village in the tahsil was the scene of a confrontation in 2008 between people and a leopard, which had killed two persons and injured three others. A 100-strong force had to be sent to control the villagers. The leopard, against which shoot orders were issued, was later trapped.

The other attack on Friday was in Chimur range, close to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), in which 18-year old Pradip Dadmal was injured, while collecting tendu leaves along with others. He was taken to a hospital in Chimur and discharged after treatment.

"People generally scatter while collecting tendu leaves. The tiger is likely to attack when people are separated from the group," Divisional Forest Officer, Brahmapuri division, Sanjay Thavre told The Indian Express.

Friday's incidents have taken the number of attacks to 11 and fatalities to 10 this year.

Rajesh Gopal's visit today

NAGPUR:National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) member-secretary Rajesh Gopal is visiting Nagpur on Saturday. "I am going to take a look at issues confronting TATR," he told The Indian Express.

Gopal will also look into whether the proposal for expansion of a private sector thermal power station at Warora in Chandrapur district is likely to interfere in the TATR ecology and wildlife. He is also set to discuss, with forest officials, the recent coming to light of a tiger poaching in TATR which had occurred last year. Some villagers arrested from Kolsa, after tiger claws were seized from another villager from Jamni, (both villages inside TATR), admitted to snaring and killing a tiger (a female according to them) in a nullah near the village. Two others were arrested on Friday from Chandrapur city and Jamni village and two claws were recovered from them.