Khuntuni: An elephant herd strayed into Radhakishorepur village under the forest division and destroyed harvested paddy stacks of several farmers of the village in the wee hours of Monday.
According to sources, around 2am some of the villagers heard the trumpets of the elephants, approximately 15 in number. They felt it safe to stay indoors.
Some village youths made a futile attempt to shoo away the elephants by bursting crackers. Later, they informed the Khuntuni forest division officials, who reached the spot and chased away the jumbo herd to Subashi reserve forest.
The elephants destroyed more than 400 bundles of paddy harvested from around 4 acres of land, said the villagers.
The farmers who suffered crop loss are Subash Sethi, Niranjan Das and Dasarathi Behera. The elephants also did not spare the crop left on the paddy field of Dasarathi.
The affected farmers approached the divisional forest officer (DFO), Maguni Charan Behera, who assured them of compensation after a thorough enquiry.
“Arrangements will be made to provide compensation for the affected farmers after an enquiry by the Forest department into the complaints,” Behera said.
Meanwhile, Sanjit Roul, a youth leader of the village, demanded immediate compensation to Dasarathi stating that he was a sharecropper and had incurred loans to undertake farming.