Undergraduate students of the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, received their midterm breaks much earlier than expected after two tigers entered the institute's campus. Now, MANIT has started mending gaps in its boundary wall to prevent further such incidents, an official from the institute informed on Monday, October 17. "We are fencing the gaps in the boundaries. The work started on Sunday itself. After this, a concrete boundary wall will be constructed wherever it is needed," MANIT's Public Relations Officer Dr Amit Ojha said, as per a report by PTI.
The institute officials informed that a midterm break for around 5,400 UG students was announced from October 11 to 30, whereas such breaks were generally given in December. They added that the institute was holding classes for 600-odd PG students. The institute is spread over an area of 650 acres, including 100 acres of thickets, and is enveloped by human settlements. Around 5,000 hostellers and 1,000 kin of employees of the institute live on the campus, the officials said.
MANIT is situated 12 km away from the Kerwa area, Bhopal Divisional Forest Officer Alok Pathak informed. Tigers from the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, spread in Raisen and Sehore districts close to Bhopal, move into the state capital's Kerwa area, as per PTI. A forest official informed that a tiger named T-123-4 snuck into the institute campus on October 3, killed two cows and attacked two other bovines. "It is believed to have left the campus a few days ago," the official said. The institute officials additionally informed that another tiger which had most probably entered the institute on October 8 or 9 was captured on Sunday, October 16, and released in the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Narmadapuram.
"We have asked the institute authorities to prune some vegetation inside the campus for visibility," Pathak said. "The forest department is not going to remove the 16 trap cameras placed in MANIT for the next three to four days," he added. Pathak has also stated that the three cages with baits put up on the campus will also not be removed and the premises will be monitored for the next few days, as per PTI.
