Dhenkanal/Kamakhyanagar: Two persons, including a woman, were killed after being attacked by a tusker at Ichhabatipur village under Anlabereni section of Kamakhyanagar western forest range in Dhenkanal district Friday.
The deceased were identified as Surendra Nayak (75) and Patili Behera (64) of the same village. The incident happened under the jurisdiction of Tumusingha police station. Nayak was plucking flowers near a temple in the village when the pachyderm attacked him, assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Maheswar Patnaik said.
At first, the tusker lifted Nayak and battered him. It then snapped off his hand before trampling him to death. Later, the animal trampled Patali Behera (55) to death in a nearby field, the ACF said.
It may be noted here that the same tusker had earlier attacked a woman Sabita Sahu of Sogar village 10 days ago. Sabita is still under treatment at a private hospital in Cuttack.
Tension prevailed in the area, no sooner the news of the death of two people spread in the village. Angry locals staged a blockade on Pandua-Marthapur road. They burnt tyres demanding adequate compensation to the bereaved families. The agitation continued for six hours disrupting traffic on the route.
The agitators demanded that proper steps should be taken to drive away the jumbo from the locality. On learning the incident, ranger Gatikrushna Mohanty and other officials reached the spot and tried to pacify the angry mob, but in vain.
Later, sub-collector Kalpatar Behera, SDPO Sheikh Abdul Karim and ACF Patnaik reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
The blockade was lifted after the officials held a discussion with the protesters and promised them prompt action to prevent such incidents.
Officials assured that the pachyderm would be tranquilised and shifted to another place, all bushes along Pandua to Bolua road would be cleaned, elephant warning sign boards will be placed and necessary compensation as per government norms would be provided to the bereaved families.
Tumusingha IIC Khitish Chandra Patra and Pandua outpost officer Ajay Kumar Sahu seized the bodies and sent them for post-mortem. A case of unnatural death was registered in this connection.
Meanwhile, the forest officials launched an operation to tranquilise the pachyderm. The officials also provided compensation under Harischandra Yojana while Rs 10,000 each was provided from the forest department. PNN
