Pig catchers thrashed, made to free the catch

Nagpur: NMC’s drive to catch stray pigs ran into difficulties in its second day itself when pig owners beat up the specialist catchers from Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The pig owners also pelted stones on vehicle carrying the captured animals near Itarsi puliya.
The pig catchers were returning after letting off some stray swines they had caught at Bank colony when the empty vehicle was intercepted by the pig owners. Due to presence of only a few police personnel during the drive, the catchers were allegedly beaten up with bamboo sticks and rods and pelted with stones and glass bottles, said Rajkumar, the pig catcher contractor from Tamil Nadu. Five catchers sustained serious injuries and were rushed to Mayo hospital for treatment.
Senior PI Parag Pote of Jaripatka police station said there was adequate security for the catchers for most part of the day. “There was a request to free just one pregnant swine but catchers probably did not understand the local language and freed all the pigs. They also did not ask us to accompany the returning vehicle. The attack took place while returning,” he said. Pote said the police were registering an offence.
The health department of NMC has assigned work of removing pigs to Tamil Nadu-based R Rajkumar on a pilot basis for 15 days. In the first half on their second day, the team caught 15 pigs. During second half, they resumed they caught 20 more from Jaripatka. The team had to release the swines following protest from owners, said NMC's veterinary officer Gajendra Mahalle.
NMC has taken services of these experts to eliminate stray pigs which are carrier for infectious diseases like Japanese encephalitis, brain fever and also pig bites were becoming frequent in the city. Police was supposed to provide protection to this team during the operation.
Meanwhile, a delegation of pig owners met mayor Nanda Jichkar and appealed to stop the drive. After giving them a patient hearing, mayor urged them to rear pigs in enclosed spaces. "Letting them out in open is not only causing health issues but there were also reports of animals biting citizens," the mayor told them. She also clarified that the drive, which was started on pilot basis for a fortnight from July 22 will continue.