The Forest department's search and rescue operation continued for a second day after a leopard was spotted inside a group housing society in Greater Noida (West), officials said. Residents claimed to have seen the feline moving around in the area on Wednesday morning.
The leopard sighting triggered panic among residents of Ajnara Le Garden in Sector 16 of Greater Noida (West), also known as Noida Extension, on Tuesday. While a team from the Forest department at Gautam Buddh Nagar rushed to the spot, experts from Meerut and Agra were roped in later in the day, an official said.
The society had issued a similar leopard alert a week ago when, on December 27, its maintenance department informed the residents about a feline's suspected presence on the premises and urged them to avoid venturing outdoors. "We are continuing with our search for the leopard. We have got teams from Agra and Meerut as well for the job," Divisional Forest Officer Pramod Kumar Srivastava, overseeing the rescue operation, told PTI.
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Gripped by fear, the society residents remained indoors with many of them even avoiding going to the local shops for daily essentials. "No doubt, residents are very concerned about their safety. My wife also observed the leopard moving in the society this morning. It was a little misty when she noticed the leopard near the swimming pool," Mukesh Gupta, who lives with his family on the 15th floor, told PTI.
The society has around 16 residential towers of which five to six are under construction. The leopard was spotted by society workers in one of the under-construction towers' basement on Tuesday. A couple of blurred pictures of the animal also emerged, according to the society residents. The society officials had on Tuesday issued a one-line message to the residents, requesting them to stay indoors and cautious after the leopard was spotted on the premises.
