Forest staff on symbolic protest, elephant herd runs amok in Bhubaneswar

Residents of Ganesh Vihar in Bhubaneswar were taken for a shock on Tuesday morning after three wild elephants went on a rampage and damaged property in the area.

As per reports, the tuskers had come down from Bharatpur jungle into residential areas of Ganesh Vihar near Sikharchandi.

Locals alleged despite informing the officials of Chandaka Forest Division over the phone, nobody showed up to ward off the elephants from residential areas.

It is pertinent to mention here that the members of the Non-Gazetted Forest Seva Sangha on Monday launched symbolic protest against the recent killings of two forest officials in Similipal.

Recently, a wild elephant strayed into Maitri Vihar area in Bhubaneswar on the night of May 28. After an hour of painstaking effort by the forest department officials and the police, the pachyderm finally left the city.

It is worthwhile to mention here that the trench dug up around Chandaka wildlife sanctuary to keep the elephants from entering Bhubaneswar has been filled up at many places. Even the boundary walls erected for the elephants have been broken at many places allowing the elephants passage to enter Bhubaneswar.