Nuagaon: A female elephant was electrocuted after it came into contact with live wires near Garda village under Bagdega panchayat in this block in Sundargarh district Wednesday.
Tension prevailed as villager gathered near the carcass and held forest officials responsible for the pachyderm’s death.
On being informed, Bisra forest ranger Sudhanshu Chandra Sahani, police IIC Prabhat Biswal and other officials rushed to the spot and tried to placate villagers but they refused to leave the carcass till other members of the deceased herd were driven away from the area.
Left with no option, the forest and police officials were found camping in the area with the villagers surrounding the carcass till late evening.
They alleged that over nine elephants had strayed into the area two months back and unleashed mayhem in over 10 villages by destroying paddy crops and pulling down houses of villagers.
This dealt a heavy blow to their lives and livelihood as people spent sleepless night guarding their villages from the marauding herd. They stayed awake all through night driving away the herd but they came back again and destroyed their crops and houses.
All their complaints in the Bisra forest range office yielded zilch. PNN