Odisha Villagers Lock Up Forest Officials For 9 Hrs !

Bolangir: Irate locals of Thalabandha village under Deogaon block of the district on Tuesday locked up two forest officials in their farm for nine hours protesting alleged inaction of the authorities in dealing with regular incidents of human-elephant conflicts in the area.

Local residents of the region have alleged that despite their repeated requests, the forest officials didn’t show a slightest interest in warding off a herd of pachyderms which have been rummaging through farm lands in Deogaon and Tusra area of the district inflicting heavy loss to the farmers.

It was only on Monday that the officials decided to turn up in the village however; one Dhoba Patel with the help of other locals locked them up in a farm house demanding compensation for loss to the crops due to damage by elephants.

Later, Tusra police reached the spot and rescued the forest officials from the clutches of the irate villagers.