SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 19: An elephant destroyed over a dozen houses and damaged several acres of paddy crop in the hilly terrain-based villages of South Tundi block, around 32.7 km away from Dhanbad district headquarters on Monday night.
Dhanbad Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vimal Lakra said that after receiving the information about the ruckus, a team consisting of experts has been deployed in the area and villagers have also been alerted about the arrival of the elephant at night.
The DFO said that this is the same stray elephant of the herd that had run amok in Pirtand and Saria blocks of Giridih district last week. After being driven out from there ( Giridih), the elephant has entered the Dhanbad area and is causing havoc in Tundi’s hilly forest region.
“The main problem is that after inflicting damage at night, the elephant returns to the deep forest. The patrolling team can’t enter that deep into the forest. However, all precautionary measures have been initiated for the safety of villagers,” added DFO Lakra.
The report reaching the district headquarters from the affected tribal villages said that the elephant entered Parvatpur village falling under Begnoria Panchayat at around 11 pm when the villagers were sleeping. It demolished the house of Shivlal Kishku completely and damaged some other houses too for food grains. It also trampled several acres of paddy crop planted in the fields.
A sudden attack by the elephant at night amidst heavy rains created a stampede-like situation in the densely populated village. However, villagers soon united and drove the animal out by igniting Mashal.
“We have not slept for the last three nights. Since the forest department’s rescue team does not camp in the villages at night despite information about the elephant in the nearby forest, the villagers keep guarding themselves. But that is not enough to stop it ( elephant) as it enters different villages at different times,” said Sitaram Kisku, one of the victims.
Villagers of the surrounding villages are in a panic as three days ago the elephant had uprooted a hand of Yashoda Devi in Khatjori village when she had gone to attend a call of nature in the forest near her house.
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