Inside Thane’s Upvan Lake is a crocodile that has left locals in a quandary. No one knows how it got in the lake, no one is sure what to do with it. While some locals and civic officials are considering shifting the animal to Tulsi Lake in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali, others feel it’s doing no harm and should be left alone, and children playing near the lake pelt stones at it for fun.‘‘Last August, the Vartak Nagar police approached us about the crocodile. Residents of Koknipada Chawl near the lake feared a confrontation during Ganpati immersion,’’ said Thane chief fire officer Vijay Vaidya. ‘‘We obviously didn’t know what to do with a crocodile. Thankfully, it didn’t make any trouble.’’ Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Asia magazine, wondered why the police went to the fire brigade: ‘‘Was the crocodile on fire?’’ he said.While the Vartak Nagar police have got no complaints this year and don’t think it’s an issue, the Wildlife Department can already see jaws emerging from the water as Ganesh idols go into it. ‘‘Our field officer reported a sighting last week. Ganeshotsav is around the corner, we’ll have do something in two to three days—we don’t want it attacking people during the immersion,’’ said Thane chief conservator (Wildlife) S. Asthana.The chief conservator said efforts were on to contact experts and arrange nets strong enough to capture and transfer it to Tulsi Lake.Not all the locals have a problem with the crocodile, though.‘‘It goes into the water when people are around. What harm is it doing anyone? They should let it be,’’ said Dutta Kurkute, a resident of Koknipada.‘‘The crocodile must be suffering because children playing near the lake pelt stones at it when it comes out of the water,’’ said Bhagyarathi Biswal, a mason at a building overlooking the lake. According to Biswal, who first saw the animal a year ago, it is a young animal 4 ft to 5 ft in length.‘‘If it has lived there for long, they should let it be,’’ said Anuradha Sawhney of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
