Jumbo havoc in hamlets of Simdega dist

Gumla: A male elephant is wreaking havoc in several villages across three blocks — Bolwa, Kurudega and Thetaitangar — of Simdega district by flattening houses and eating up crops in the fields and warehouses for the last six months.
“The tusker has been camping in the area since December and has destroyed 50 houses in Bolwa block alone,” Bolwa forest range officer Shambhu Sharan Choudhary said. “Around Rs 14 lakh have been paid in compensation to the families that suffered losses,” Choudhary added.
On Tuesday evening, the tusker intercepted an autorickshaw along Saraijor-Kundurmunda villages and took away four gunny bags containing seeds being transported by one Deepak Mahto of Pidhiyaponch village. On Sunday, the same tusker destroyed the homes of Bhupnath Singh, Sundar Manjhi, Laxam Singh, Kunwar Manjhi, Kalar Kullu and Jaldhar Manjhi in Saraijor and Kundurmunda villages and ate up the grains stored in their houses. On Monday, the animal had razed several houses in Malsada village.
While forest officials are clueless about how to deal with the situation, Kolebira MLA Naman Bixal Kongari took stock of the villages on Wednesday where the elephant has been wandering. “This is a case of man-animal conflict owing to the shrinking habitat of the elephants. I will take it up with the state government soon,” he said.