Mumbai, Nov. 13 -- The verdant expanses of Junnar, Ambegaon, Shirur and Khed in Pune district have undergone profound transformation over the past few decades. What once stood as forested terrain has metamorphosed into a sprawling agricultural heartland, with irrigation projects channeling water to create some of the most productive sugarcane-growing belts in Maharashtra.
Yet this landscape transformation has triggered an unintended catastrophe-one that has claimed 52 lives over the past quarter-century and now threatens to claim many more as the human and wildlife spheres collide with devastating consequences.
The crisis has intensified to such alarming proportions that Maharashtra Forest Minister Ganesh Naik declared on Wednesday that l...