Driven by drought, crocodiles leave Manjeera river, enter fields

Lack of rains for the past two years had had an adverse impact on the crocodiles as well. The parched area under Manjeera river resembled a playground.

A crocodile in the Manjeera park at Sangareddy district in Medak . — PHOTO: Mohd Arif

Few days ago a crocodile was caught in the sugarcane field of the late legislator P. Kishta Reddy at Nadigadda near Narayanakhed.

This was not an isolated incident, as in the past few weeks as many as seven crocodiles were spotted in fields: three at Manoor, one each at Zaheerabad, Nyalakal, Regod and Marpally in Ranga Reddy district. It is said that that the crocodiles ended up in the fields in search of water, sending shivers down the spine of many farmers.

Lack of rains for the past two years had had an adverse impact on the crocodiles as well.

Ample space for 580 crocs

The parched area under Manjeera river resembled a playground.

The course of the river, spread over 32 kilometres from Singoor reservoir to Manjeera dam, provides ample space for about 580 crocodiles in addition to three big and 32 small crocodiles at the crocodile park at Manjeera dam.

Alternative habitats

The Narinja vagu located near Zaheerabad had already dried up, forcing crocodiles to look for alternative habitats.

There are about nine islands between Manjeera and Singoor where large sized water bodies (‘madugu’) exist and officials are pinning their hopes on these water bodies.

“Though it is a fact that the crocodiles reached human habitations from the river in search of water, we hope that the situation may not go out of control as a large number of water bodies are available within the river course. All precautions will be taken to keep the crocodiles in these water bodies till the rainy season,” said Mr. Satteaiah, Beat Officer, Forest Department.