Forester injured in elephant attack in Dibrugarh’s Namrup

Dibrugarh: A 34-year-old beat officer of Namrup forest range in Dibrugarh district was injured during an elephant attack at Kamargaon village in the early hours of Tuesday.
Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Dibrugarh forest division BV Sandeep said the incident took place when the official, Bastav Borkotoky, was on duty with some other personnel of the department, and were trying to chase away a herd of wild, rampaging elephants from the village. They were attacked by the jumbos in the process.
“Borkotoky has been rushed to a private nursing home in Dibrugarh where a surgery will be performed,” said the DFO.
Earlier, a villager was trampled to death by wild elephants in the same village, which falls under the Namrup police station of the district.
Man-elephant conflict has been rising due to the shrinking forest covers. The elephants come out from the forests in search of food and enter human habitation. The phenomenon is mostly seen during the harvesting season.
“The elephant herd comes out from the Joypur reserve forest, which is a habitat of wild elephant. They enter our village and destroy our crops. We have informed the forest department about the matter. Due to manpower crunch, it is a challenge for the forest department to drive away the wild elephants. We have to rely on bursting firecrackers and beating drums to chase them away,” said a local resident.