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Bhubaneswar: Coinciding with the season's kharif paddy cultivation, frequent movement of wild elephants towards human settlements have once again begun to rise in Odisha.
Several incidents of man-animal conflicts were reported in some districts of the State over the past few days. Elephant herds reportedly damaged agricultural lands, houses and ate away stocked paddy and rice at several villages in Cuttack, Kenojhar and Sundargarh districts.
Cuttack
Two elephants from Kaliamba forest in Dlaijoda reportedly damaged the house of one Rukmini Sardar at Badapokhari village in Tangi area of Cuttack district. The jumbos ate away the rice stocks by pulling down a wall of the house.
“The elephants damaged my house and ate away rice and paddy which I had stocked for the year. Now I have no clue how to survive the rest of the year,” said a frightened Rukmini.
Reacting on the development, Safa Range forester Chandra Sekhar Das assured that compensation will be provided to the victim after assessing the damage.
“After assessing the loss caused by the elephants, I will write a report so that the department can provide compensation to the victim,” Das said.
Keonjhar
An elephant herd continues to wreak havoc in Telkoi area in Keonjhar district. According to sources, the pachyderms have damaged several houses and farm lands in the area.
Locals of one of the villages in the region allege that despite several complaints and demands for compensation, the forest authorities have been unresponsive.
“A heard of elephant comprising 25 to 30 jumbos have destroyed the farmlands. Amid Covid crisis and erratic rainfall, it seems that now damages caused by the elephants will further deepen our prospects of a good harvest this year of the forest officials do not drive away the jumbos into the jungle," said a farmer.
Sundargarh
Similar instances of damages caused by elephants were also reported from Koida, Jarada and Barsuan areas of Sundargarh. Elephants reportedly ate away rice after damaging two houses in Dengula panchayat and also destroyed acres of agricultural land in Kindro village under Jarada panchayat.
Barsuan Forester Nabin Pradhan said, “Efforts are on to drive away the elephants and compensation will be provided to the victims after assessing the damage.”
(Edited By Suryakant Jena)
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