Post News Network
Ambabhona, Dec 6: Residents in Jarimula village under this block and on the foothills of Barapahada in Bargarh district had a nightmarish experience after a fisherman was trampled to death while 12 members of three families escaped death by a whisker after an elephant herd went on a rampage Saturday.
The deceased fisherman Pichhalu Majhi was trampled to death Saturday evening. The incident occurred when Pichhalu was returning home after fishing.
Tension was palpable in the area as no administrative or forest officials met the villagers after the incident. Villagers alleged that forest officials have done little to address their problem despite the jumbo herd repeatedly straying into their village and destroying their boats, fishing nets and crops.
The panic-stricken villagers said they were trying to come to terms with what just happened when the elephant herd again struck after an hour and tried to pull down the house of a villager named Linga Sandha. The family members who were inside began screaming for help.
They were rescued after villagers rushed to the spot carrying flaming torches. The family members holding their children in their arms ran outside the house and saved their lives. The herd continued its rampage and pulled down houses of three families. The herd then trampled over 15 sacks of paddy crops and ate away three quintals of rice while destroying the household items.
The destruction did not end there as the herd pulled down the cattle-shed of the houses and tore up the fishing nets. The herd later ate away the stored paddy crops of Seshamani Jagat in his paddy yard and destroyed vegetable crops in Nilachal Seth’s farmland. The elephants also destroyed a diesel pump set and 15 water sprinklers used for irrigating farmlands before retreating into the forest.
On being informed, Uttam sarpanch Hiradhar Sahu and Youth Congress leader Satyanarayan Debata visited the village Sunday morning and met the affected villagers. Debata demanded that the affected families be compensated by the government.