Elephants wreak havoc in Baripada

BARIPADA: Despite efforts of around 50 forest personnel to drive the elephant herd from Jharkhand out of Raruan block in Mayurbhanj district for the last nine days, the animals seem to be in no mood to oblige.
On Sunday night, elephants destroyed the house of Veersingh Purty in Takudipal village under Bhanjkiya panchayat and feasted on 20 quintals of harvested paddy and five quintal of rice stored in the house. The homeless family has now taken shelter in their neighbour’s house. He had constructed the house under Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana three years back. Bhanjkiya Sarpanch, Rukmani Naik said all affected families in the village are being served cooked food by the administration.

On Friday night, the herd damaged houses of  Ganesh Karua, Sunaram Maharana, Basanta Patra in Jhumkapal village and Priyanath Munda in Angarpada village. The herd of 22 elephants comprising five tuskers, nine female elephants and eight calves entered the forests under Karanjia forest division in Raruan block in the third week of July and since then have been destroying houses and eating away harvested crops. The wild animals stay put in Khujiam Reserve Forest during the morning and enter human habitations looking for food at the night. Before dawn approaches, the herd moves back to the forest. In the evening people prefer to remain indoors after sunset. The elephants have damaged houses in Jamuti, Jadipada, Khujiam, Jhumkapal and Takudipal villages, and consumed the harvested crop.

Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) of Karanjia Forest Division, Batakrushna Padhi said forest personnel from Karanjia, Gudgudia and Dudhiani ranges along with Sabuja Bahini have been engaged to drive the elephants out of the block but people in villages bordering Jharkhand are obstructing their movement to Dalma forest in the neighbouring State.

Officials of NESCO have been asked to stop power supply in areas where the elephants are roaming. The ACF said elephants have taken shelter in a forest on Odisha-Jharkhand border.