Ullala, December 25: in the view of Christmas, Mangaluru Bishop Fr. Peter Paul Saldanha visited Sri Vithobha Rukmayi Bhajana Mandir at Thokkottu in the city on Tuesday. 

St. Sebastian church father Fr. JB Saldanha and administrative board members accompanied the Bishop and Minister UT Khader. They participated in the annual programme of the Bhajana Mandir. Bishop distributed Christmas sweets to the gathering on the occasion.

Bishop said that let the God bless everyone during Christmas celebrations and annual programme of the Mandir to live happily. 

Minister UT Khader said that Bishop visit to the Mandir has provided an opportunity to share love and affection to the people. Christmas was a festival to be celebrated by one and all and give good message to the society.

Bhajana Mandali felicitated the Bishop and the Minister. 

Congress leaders Suresh Bhatnagar, Bazil D'Souza, Mandir president Padmanabha, Mohan Bangera, Chethan Kumar Shetty, Sachindra Salian and others were present.

The Bishop and Minister UT Khader participated in the Christmas celebrations at the St. Sebastian church at Thokkottu and wished the people.

 

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Kota (Rajasthan) (PTI): The sighting of MT-8 or ‘Kankati’, a tigress linked to two fatal attacks on humans in neighbouring Ranthambore that escaped from its designated 82-sq km enclosure in the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve here, triggered brief panic and halted traffic in the area.

However, the radio-collared tigress, which escaped on Tuesday morning, returned to its place in the forest later in the day, Muthu S, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR), told PTI. Kankati gained notoriety for two human kills in the Ranthambore forest range earlier this year, after which she was relocated to the MHTR on June 19.

After spending around two months in a 21-hectare enclosure, Kankati was reintroduced into the wild on August 15 when she was released into the 82-sq km enclosure in the Dara forest area of MHTR.

At around 11 am on Tuesday, the tigress escaped from its designated enclosure and crossed the road, creating panic and halting traffic on both sides briefly.

Sensing the presence of the big cat, a few cattle hurriedly escaped from the spot, while some passersby, including a few cops, were seen filming the animal crossing the road with their mobile phones.

Muthu said the tigress crossed the Batwada road, which is a part of MHTR, before returning to her enclosure in the Dara forest range later in the day.

The tigress is radio-collared and tracked by three forest teams round the clock, the DCF said, adding that since the animal was under watch, the areas around the road were already cordoned off.

Forest teams remain particularly alert in the area after a tigress was run over by a train when it wandered from the Ranthambore forest range 20 years ago, the DCF said.

Wildlife enthusiast Brijesh Vijayvergiya, however, termed the movement of the tigress a result of “careless” monitoring and “inadequate” safety measures in the MHTR for which he held the forest department responsible.

“Taking a lesson from the accidental death of a tigress 20 years ago, the forest department should have erected fencing to prevent wild animals from crossing the road or the railway track. In the absence of fencing, the tigress Kankati ventured out and crossed the road, thus risking her life,” Vijayvergiya told PTI.