THE TRIBUNE (Chandigarh, India) 30 May 05 Snakes all over in this house
Kharar: For the past 24 hours Surinder Pal Singh’s family has been battling snakes who have virtually taken over his house. They are in the porch, inside the drawing room, bathroom, kitchen and even on the curtains. He has killed over two dozen of them since last night and but there seemed to be no end to them.
Surinder Pal lives with his family of three in the newly built Dashmesh Enclave, Mundi Kharar, near here. The family had just heard of residents having seen large snakes in the colony but last night it happened to them.
Surinder Pal’s wife found a small snake first in the bathroom and later in the kitchen. The two were immediately killed with sticks. But within hours their house had over 10 small snakes crawling in various rooms.
Terrorised, the family rushed out of the house and called the fire brigade. Officials of the fire brigade, Mohali, went to the spot last night and discovered that the family had already killed over a dozen snakes.
The snakes were found to be coming from various sewerage openings in the house. The main gutter of the house was opened and a large “breeding colony” of snakes was discovered. Over 50 baby snakes coiled over each other were thriving in the gutter. While a whole bunch was half submerged in the filth many were creeping on the gutter walls.
By the time a big crowd gathered outside the house in Dashmesh Enclave. Neighbours told the fire officers that a large snakes had been seen in the area some days ago but they soon vanished into the wild growth near the choe nearby.
The fire brigade officers offered to wash the snakes out of the gutter but it was felt that this could lead to the snakes getting into other houses. The fire officers came back and the scared family spent the night in a friend’s house.
This morning, Mr Surinder Pal discovered more snakes in the house and some had even crawled up on the curtains. These were also killed with sticks. The fire brigade was called again in this morning to find a solution to the problem.
However, after great amount of discussion the fire officers showed their disability to deal with the problem effectively and left.
The residents called the SDM Kharar for help who sent the tehsildar to the spot. “The tehsildar too came with some police officers but left without being able to tell us what to do. Finally we realised that we would have to find a solution to the problem ourselves,” said a resident of the colony.
Large amounts of a poisonous chemical was thrown in the gutter and sealed. Within minutes, many of these snakes leapt out of the open gutter outside in the street. Many were killed with sticks by the on lookers but many others escaped. This gutter was also later sealed.
As the news of the discovery of a colony of snakes spread, panic spread in the area and by this time other residents of the area, including women of the Enclave were seen moving armed with sticks.
Captain Suresh Sharma, who manages the city-based Snake Cell, gave the following tips for those who come face-to-face with a snake:
Don’t panic. If you are confronted by a snake, remain calm and back away slowly and carefully. Don’t make fast, sudden movements. Snake can’t hear, so noise won’t affect them.
When a snake is moving towards you, move to a side by five feet and you are safe. Snakes have no interest in humans, they being not their food.
Call Police control for directions to a Snake Cell to remove the snake.
Prevent the snake from getting into any obscure area or out of your sight.
Put a dark blanket, sack or cloth over snake with the help of a long stick to provide the snake a shelter till help arrives. Never corner a snake in close proximity.
If the snake bites, never try to kill the snake.
Administer first aid and rush the victim to nearest hospital since first-aid is not a treatment.
Killing a snake should be last resort. Snakes do not take revenge. Snake can’t kill a person with its hiss or with its tail.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050530/punjab1.htm#9
EXPRESS INDIA (Chandigarh) 30 May 05 Trouble comes slithering in Kharar
Kharar: Panic gripped Dashmesh Enclave in Ward 2 here on late Saturday night when hundreds of poisonous crawling reptiles surfaced at the house of Surinder Pal Singh.
Not only did the four members of Singh’s family spent Saturday night out in the open, they were yet not ready to return due to the fear of the reptiles.
Though the cops and fire brigade personnel reached the spot, the residents got rid of the unwanted guests only this morning when they spread some poisonous medicine, which killed many reptiles while others disappeared. The problem arose at around 10 pm when Singh noticed a snake in his kitchen and on killing it, more reptiles surfaced, which alarmed the family who began cried for help.
Within no time, the residents of the locality rushed to Singh’s place and also summoned a fire tender from Mohali. The situation became more serious when hundreds of snakes, ranging between 6 inches to 2 feet in length, were seen in a manhole. No solution in sight, the rescue operations were postponed till morning. However, the residents killed nearly two-dozen snakes during the night.
Sunday morning saw fire brigade and police personnel reaching the spot again, but they were yet undecided how to get rid of such a large number of poisonous reptiles. However, the locality residents sprayed some poisonous substance around snakes, which led to killing the reptiles.
Attributing the problem to insanitary conditions and flow of dirty water through open nullah passing through the locality, the residents alleged that earlier also snakes had surfaced in other houses of this locality They have urged the civic authorities to find permanent solution to the problem.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=131603
