Parjang: The havoc wreaked by elephant herds who brought mass destruction of standing crops at Sarang, Damol, Patarpada, Lodhani, Kandarsinha, Parjang, Pitiri and Rokumusi areas under Dihadola of Mahabirod forest range in Dhenkanal district have gone out of tolerance. The farmers under the aegis of Anchalika Chasi Surakshya Manch took out a rally Thursday and picketed protesting against the inaction of district administration and forest department to curb the elephant menace.
“The wild pachyderms damaged our crops and even destroyed houses. While three people lost their lives, more than seven persons sustained critical injuries in these elephant attacks. Scared of the incidents of man-animal conflicts, farmers are unable to cultivate properly as a result of which the agricultural production has been reduced. As the place is a farmer-dominated area, farmers like me are undergoing a tough time,” said an agitating farmer.
“In a bid to avoid elephant casualties, government’s move to disconnect electricity in the elephant corridors during their movement in the area have even added to our woes as we have to spend hours without power supply, “he added.
“Even as the farmers have informed concerned authorities, they didn’t pay heed towards our plight,” he further said.
Aggrieved over the apathetic attitude of the officials, hundreds of farmers held a rally and protested in front of Parjang Tehsil office. Later they held the agitation in front of Dihadol Forest Section office to press their 10-point charter of demands.
Their demands include driving away the elephants from the area, Rs 20 lakh compensation for kin of the deceased who died in tusker attacks, job for a family member of the deceased person, building up of elephant corridor by solar finishing, construction of a tower for monitoring movements of the mammals, stopping power cuts for elephants and installation of sign boards for identification of elephant corridors.
The rally was taken out under the supervision of Ranjan Kumar Rout and was attended by Durga Prasad Sahoo, Manas Parida, Hemant Samal, Bijay Kumar Sahoo, Ramesh Chandra Sahoo, Laxmidhar Sahoo, Nirakar Pradhan, Ramesh Chandra Sahoo and Bijendra Sahoo.
The memorandum which was addressed to the DFO was submitted to Mahabirod forest ranger Haramohan Nayak.
Parjang police station IIC Jitendra Sahoo, SI Anadi Charan Pattayat and ASI Ajay Sahoo were present during the agitation.
PNN