By Suhail Rather
Bandipora, April 28: Wild Boars are rampant in Bandipora villages, destroying paddy seedlings of farmers, leading to huge losses at the beginning of the sowing season, locals said.
Locals said that they have been left wondering by the return of the Wild Boar because wild boars have come back to the district after nearly three decades and are roaming in many villages, including Arin, Aragam, Nadihal, Garoora, Gamroo, and Onagam.
“After sowing paddy seeds in the farm, I come back the next day only to see that they have been destroyed by these Wild Boars,” said Gulzar Ahmad Mir, a farmer from Onagam area of the district.
Experts say the Indian wild boar was introduced in the Himalayan region of Kashmir by Maharaja Gulab Singh, a Dogra military general in the former Sikh empire who purchased the region from the colonial British rulers under the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846.
Walter Roper Lawrence, a British officer who served the empire, wrote in his 1895 book, The Valley of Kashmir, that wild boar meat is a “great delicacy for the Dogras and Sikhs.”
People from many villages of Bandipora have complained that Wild Boars have been seen in their agricultural fields where they have destroyed their crops.
Farmers in the Valley have already been distressed due to continuous rainfall in the past few weeks.
A group of farmers said that they are already late for sowing seeds, adding,“Another disaster is waiting for us.”
Altaf Mir, an aggrieved farmer said, “They come during night hours and destroy our seedlings. Now we have made arrangements for temporary fencing to stop them.”
Farmers allege the administration is not taking any concrete measures to protect them from these Wild Boars.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Shakeel Ur Rehman said that a meeting has already taken place on this issue as well as incidents of leopards being found in nearby villages.
“The Wildlife officers as well as forest officers have been asked to increase patrolling and set up control rooms across the district to ensure the safety of human life as well as crops,” he added. (KNS)
