Odisha villagers detain 10 forest dept staff over unabated man-elephant conflict

Irked by the frequent damages of houses and crops by elephants, locals of Dholpur village under Aupada block of Balasore district allegedly detained several Odisha Forest Department officials on Tuesday.

The villagers reportedly took the drastic step after their demands for compensation of the losses due to the elephants were not addressed by the State Forest Department.

Elephants have been damaging houses and crop in the nearby villages and people have been living in constant fear, but the forest department officials are not serious about it, alleged a villager.

Today, another such incident happened in Aupada Block, where elephants damaged crops and the asbestos roofs of several houses. However, the Forest Department officials allegedly didn't take any action to drive the elephants away.

Later, when they reached the area, some locals allegedly detained 10 Forest Department staff including one female Forest Guard.

One local villager said, “The herd of elephants destroyed my cattle shed, and two of my cows ran away. This caused me a lot of problems and I requested the Forest Department officials to compensate me for the damages. However, they did not listen to it and asked us to go to the RI to file a report. We will not let the detained officials leave till our demands are not met."

“The elephant ruckus has become unbearable and they have made it impossible for us to step out of our houses. We had earlier staged protest. The Forest Department officials had then assured us to resolve the problem within a month. However, no countermeasures were taken and the elephants' menace continued unabated,” said another local.

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“Last year, the foresters collected our details to compensate us for the damage and assured us that the money would be transferred. However, we did not receive any payment,” alleged a third villager.