Elephant menace daunts people in Keonjhar

Keonjhar: A herd of elephants wreaked havoc on several villages under Champua and Barbil range in the district, damaging crops and destroying human habitats.

The natives of the Dadua village are living in constant fear with the frequent elephant attacks. Sources said the attacks have forced many villagers to move out of the village.

Locals alleged that the furious elephants have been entering into the village in the evening and have destroyed several houses and also damaged the crops harvested by them.

Apart from this, they have also destroyed the village school and its kitchen damaging all the rice that had been kept for mid-day meal of the students.

"We have deployed five squads in Basudevpur and Basantpur village to make the villagers aware of the tuskers attack so that they do not confront the wild elephants. Also, compensation will be provided for house and crop damage," said District Forest Officer Rohit Kumar Lenka.

According to reports, 3 persons were killed and 28 houses were damaged completely from the elephant attacks last month, and as many as 147 houses have been partially damaged.