Keonjhar: A herd of elephants wreaked havoc in Maidankel forest near Beat area under Keonjhar Sadar block near Naranpur in Keonjhar district. The wild herd strayed into the village and destroyed acres of paddy and vegetable cultivation.
Apparently, the herd, in search of food, strayed into human settlement. Many houses were also damaged by the animals. It should be mentioned that elephants often come out of the forest at night, causing chaos in Keri, Dabarchua, Maidakel, Baghua Sahi and damaging the kharif crops. The increasing frequency of their forage has caused panic among locals.
The forest officials have been entrusted with the responsibility of reducing man-animal conflicts by creating awareness among people to be friendly towards wildlife.
Despite all this, reports pour in almost every week about elephants straying into villages in search of food and water. It is an established fact that there is paucity of food and drinking water for elephants in the forest that compel them to head towards nearby villages. The animals destroy farmers’ standing crops and damage their houses. Sometimes, they kill human beings and their livestock.
The locals have lost their sleep as the elephants continue to terrorize them on a daily basis. At least nine elephants have sneaked into the district and are razing vast tracts of standing paddy crops for a much longer period. An elephant separated from its nine member-herd caused vast damage to paddy crops and human loss under Maidankel forest near Beat area.
Locals accused the Forest Department of failing to thwart off the jumbo threat despite spending crores of rupees in this regard. They will further stage demonstrations if the officials fail to take any steps, they said.
PNN