MANGALURU: A team of officers from Neriya gram panchayat (GP), who were on GP election duty, had a close encounter with a tusker recently.
Gayathri P, Nidle panchayat development officer (PDO) holding additional charge of Neriya GP, told STOI that the incident happened when the team of three officers and two staff members travelled in a jeep to Banjarumale, 35km from Neriya GP office in Belthangady as part of poll preparations. The team visited the village to check an election booth having 260 voters on Tuesday. About 45 families live in the village, and the election booth is located 15km from the ninth turn on Charmadi Ghat.
“Since I was travelling in this area for the first time after completing booth inspection, I wanted to see a dam that was built across a private power project. We alighted from the jeep to cross a stream to reach the dam, and also climbed up the dam area. It was then we saw a tusker walking on the narrow road, in the same direction that we were to return. Since it was alone, we were worried. The road is so narrow that there is a hill on one side and a gorge on the other. We waited for an hour to see the tusker pass. Finally when it could not be sighted or heard, the driver insisted that we drive back, and before it got dark. He also asked us not to panic in case we come across the elephant on the way. Scared, we finally managed to reach the main road. We suspect that the elephant may have entered into one of the narrow roads to reach the jungle. Performing our duties in such terrains is indeed challenging,” Gayathri explained.