Bengaluru residents are alarmed after seeing a leopard, and housing associations have been warned

 Bengaluru residents are alarmed after seeing a leopard, and housing associations have been warned

Housing associations have been requested to limit nighttime mobility and use care while dealing with minors until the matter is resolved.

Following reports of leopard sightings in the region, the Karnataka Forest Department has sent out many cautions to a number of resident welfare groups near Bengaluru's eastern IT corridor.

The leopard was first seen in the early hours of October 27 and again on October 28 inside the Salarpuria Cadenza Condominium in Kudlu Gate, according to government sources.

"We have increased security in the regions and repeatedly warned the resident welfare associations in Kudlu Gate and the surrounding neighborhoods not to venture outside by themselves after midnight. To capture the leopard, we have also placed cages nearby and sent out many forest rangers," the officer told Moneycontrol.

The leopard can be seen ambling around the common area before making its way across the apartment lobby in CCTV video that was taken from the project campus.

Although it hasn't been verified, officials believed the large cat had escaped from Bannarghatta National Park, which is eight kilometers distant.

Fear engulfs the locals

One of the occupants of the Salarpuria Cadenza flat, Amartya Ghoshal, said that the RWA increased security in the neighborhood after the forest department issued an alert late on October 30.

Almost 513 units are spread across 5.2 acres of land in this project, which was turned over in January 2018.

"The advisory issued by the relationship has curbed playtime for children, in addition to asked residents to be cautious about transportation until the leopard is caught," Ghoshal said.

Additionally, until the issue is under control, the inhabitants have been urged not to go for walks in the morning or evening.

The number of leopard sightings in Bengaluru, which is used to these kinds of events, has increased recently.

"Leopards do not just live in forests; they also live among people in agricultural regions. An environmentalist named Sandeep Anirudhan said, "These sightings on the outskirts of the city are because these areas were farmlands therefore rural areas just a few years ago, and were leopard territory."

These days, with the city growing so quickly, these regions have become real estate hotspots; that's why the leopards sometimes wander in, he said.