Jaleswar: After a brief hiatus, elephants unleashed a reign of terror in Jaleswar area of Balasore. The animals damaged over 50 houses in the last week panicking people in Ranjha, Raghunathpur, Gorudabasi, Ghadaghada, Saralibasa, Dhanaghera, Puljhari, Sardarbandh, Sukhajodi, Rangamatia, Uparatota, Dudhiashola and Bagabuda villages.
For the last seven days, they have been reeling under blackouts. The energy department has to go for power cuts for safety of animals, as per the guidelines.
Thursday night, the animals pulled down 27 houses in Shyamnagar panchayat while 24 houses were damaged in Kalika panchayat, according to the forest department.
People in the area have been spending sleepless nights for the last few days due to elephant menace. It was alleged that forest officials and elephant driving squads have allegedly failed to push the animals out of the area due to manpower shortage.
Government officials like sub-Collector Nilu Mohapatra, SDPO Tapan Parida, tehsildar Khirod Kumar Panda and Nesco executive engineer Harishchandra Panda distributed polythene sheets to affected people Friday.
Villagers demanded that they be shifted to safer places for a few days with provision of cooked food. Interestingly, they organised a mass worship to a deity to ward off the marauding elephants from the human habitations.