Construction work on the Guwahati-North Guwahati bridge over the Brahmaputra river was affected for the second straight day on Thursday because of fear among the workers following reports of leopard sighting in the vicinity.

A forest official said the leopard, which had hid itself in a dredger at construction site after attacking a 20-year-old worker on Wednesday, left on Wednesday night itself and has moved towards the Narkasur Hills.

However, work on the bridge was affected because of the fresh sighting of new paw marks in the Balichar area nearby.

Confirming the fresh sighting, a police official said: “Given what happened to one of their co-worker on Wednesday morning, everyone is afraid. Work is on but it has been affected due to their fear. A forest team is looking into the fresh sighting in the Balichar area.”

Leopard sighting is common in Guwahati with the forest departments earmarking two hills near the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital and Fatasil Ambari as “leopard bearing area”.

Moreover, human-leopard conflict has also seen a rise since 2010 in the city which is surrounded by 18 hills, eight reserve forests, two wildlife sanctuaries and an internationally-acclaimed wetland, the Deeporbeel.

On Wednesday morning, 20-year-old construction worker, Uday Ghosh, had gone to “start a machine” when a leopard pounced on him near the sixth pillar of the under-construction bridge.

Though Ghosh managed to escape from the leopard’s clutches, he suffered injuries on his forehead, left and right palms, left eyelid and right eye.

He was rushed to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. His condition is stated to be stable.

A co-worker said, “From a distance, it looked like he was fighting with a big dog but soon we realised that it was a leopard. He somehow survived by jumping onto nearby boat.”

He added: The leopard too moved away given the hue and cry from a startled Uday and other co-workers.”