EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
* Pujan fell on the ground as soon as the bison struck the scooter---------------------------------------
* The bison then attacked Pujan again and it remained at the site for a few minutes
* The animal then fled into the nearby forest in fear of locals who had rushed to the site
* Had 108 ambulance reached the site on time, Pujan's life could have been saved
VALPOI: A rampaging bison claimed yet another life in Sattari taluka within a month, when a 25-year-old woman was killed while her brother was injured after a bison attacked their bike at Shell Melavali, Sattari early Monday morning.
The incident sparked of tension for nearly nine hours, as irate locals confronted forest officials over the second death due to a bison attack in the area within a month and demanded a permanent solution to the bison menace.
According to reports, the incident took place at about 6.30 am as Pujan Melekar was travelling along with her brother on their scooter to proceed to Usgao, where she was employed as a packer at a company.
A bison suddenly came charging on the road, about 1.5 kms from their village, and struck the scooter. Pujan sustained grievous head injuries, while her brother also sustained some injuries in the mishap.
Pujan and her brother were later taken to the Valpoi Community Health Centre, but was declared Pujan dead on arrival.
Jagruti Devale, a villager who witnessed the incident, said she was travelling on another scooter and was behind the scooter carrying Pujan and her brother.
“Pujan fell on the ground as soon as the bison struck the scooter. The bison then attacked Pujan again and it remained at the site for a few minutes, before fleeing into the nearby forest in fear of locals who had rushed to the site,” said Devale.
She claimed that a 108 ambulance had delayed in reaching the site.
“It had taken nearly 30 minutes for the ambulance to reach the site. Had the ambulance reached the site on time, Pujan could have been rushed to hospital and he life could have been saved,” said Devale.
On hearing about the incident, a forest official Anant Samant, Valpoi Forest Officer Geoffrey D'Souza, Viswas Chodankar and Deepak Betkikar, rushed to the spot.
They were, however, confronted by angry villagers, who demanded the presence of a senior forest official to address the issue of a second death on account of a bison attack in the area within a month.
At about 3.30 pm, Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane and Deputy Conservator of Forest Kuldeep Sharma visited the site and met the agitated villagers.
ZP member, Premnath Hazare, who led the angry villagers, confronted the forest officials and demanded that the bison be moved away from habitation, since two lives had already been lost in a month.
He warned the forest officials that villagers to launch an agitation if their concerns were not addressed.
Earlier on June 6, a bison had gored Jayanti Anant Gaonkar (44) to death while another woman narrowly escaped the attack at Kankire-Guleli in Sattari taluka.
The irate locals later confronted forest officials and accused them of failing to take steps to trap the bison which had repeatedly caused nuisance in the Kankire and surrounding areas.
