Padmapur: There is no let-up in elephant menace as a herd of pachyderm went on a rampage and destroyed farmers’ paddy piled up at Dahigaon mandi under Padmapur sub-division in Bargarh district late Sunday night.
The farmers who were trying to overcome the crop loss arising out of drought and the cyclonic strom Phetai were left dumbstruck after the jumbo herd barged into the mandi and destroyed their harvest.
Eyewitness said the herd comprising 27 elephants barged into the mandi and destroyed 29 packets belonging to four farmers. The herd also destroyed the tomato cultivation of a farmer near the mandi.
The incident occurred when farmer Dipti Podh was asleep in the field to keep a watch on the paddy stocks. The affected farmers were identified as Betikhai Bariha, Ugrasen Sahu, Abhimanyu Meher of Dahigaon and Khiti Sahu of Darliguda. The affected tomato farmer was identified as Rohit Sahu of Dahigaon.
On being informed, Padmapur forest ranger Pramod Kumar Sahu, forester Susant Dash and other forest officials reached the spot and drove away the elephants. However, by then it was too late as the herd had caused damage to the paddy of the farmers who were hopeful of making some gains by selling some paddy stocks.
Dahigaon primary agricultural cooperative society secretary Thakur Pande and market in-charge Basudev Mishra rushed to the spot and took stock of the losses.
Sources said, over 8000 packets of harvested paddy are lying at Dahigaon mandi awaiting sale. However, the stocks were lying under the open sky due to lack of proper infrastructure. Even though the paddy stocks are lying at the mandi the millers are not lifting stocks for which the farmers have to stay awake all night braving extreme chill.
When contacted, ACSO Sambhu Prasad Haripal said steps would be taken after receiving a probe report from the PACS secretary.
PNN
