Rourkela: Two herds comprising more than 80 elephants have created panic among residents living on the outskirts of this town and also at other places in Sundargarh district. Forest department officials are at a loss as to how they will deal with such a large number of pachyderms, sources said Tuesday.
In the last 10 days, a herd comprising 41 elephants has been roaming near Lathikata, an industrial town which is barely 20 kilometres away from here. Couple of days back the herd was roaming freely in the open near Garjan gram panchayat. Monday the herd was again spotted near Birkera village.
Forest officials said that the herd has come from Jharkhand. “Such a huge herd was never found in our jurisdiction. The elephants are resting near the Birua hill range during the day and in the evening are moving out in search of food,” a Forest official stated.
Locals pointed out that the herd has devoured and destroyed large quantities of standing crops. Neither the officials of the Forest department nor the villagers dare to venture near the herd or undertake a modus operandi to drive it away.
Some villagers alleged that the Forest department does not possess adequate equipment like torches, crackers, fire torches and drums to tackle the elephants. “They are interested in helping us, but do not have the proper equipment,” some villagers said. Repeated attempts to reach to DFO Rourkela, Jasobant Sethi failed as he did not respond to calls.
Meanwhile, Forest department officials at Sabdega, under Sundargarh forest division held meetings with villagers recently to tackle the elephant menace. Under Sabdega forest range, another herd consisting of 40 elephants has been running riot for the last four days. “The herd is destroying and eating crops and this is hurting us to a great extent,” said an irate resident of Ranpur village.
Locals said it seems that the herd has become immune to the various methods to drive it away. Officials led by assistant DFO of Sundargarh forest division Anil Purohit and ranger of Sabdega range conducted a meeting Monday with local residents.
A decision was taken to work as a team to drive away the elephants. Monday evening a squad comprising Forest officials and a special team from Katanjharia entered the forest in an effort to drive away the herd. However, despite their best efforts, the herd just shifted to another forest range in Benaketa. “We are thankful to the villagers that they have been patient with us and are heeding our suggestions. We will work together to drive away the elephants,” Purohit said.
