Mayurbhanj: People residing at Morada and Rasagobindapur blocks in Maurbhanj district are spending sleepless night as a herd of elephants have unleashed a reign of terror for past few days. Of late, a resident of Jualibhanga panchayat under Betanati Range was trampled to death by two tuskers.
The deceased identified as Puin Dehuri was sleeping in a government building ‘Mamata Gruha’ when two tuskers strayed into the house and trampled Dehuri to death.
Sources revealed that Dehuri was taking shelter at the government building as he was repairing his house. Elephants are reported to have sneaked into the government building and trampled Dehuri in no time. Also, the elephants caused massive destruction in the village by pulling down three houses. The incident took place in the wee hours of Friday.
They had earlier ransacked furniture of Jyotsna Bhakta, a resident of Chhatana village on Thursday evening. However, Jyotnsa managed to flee the scene and saved her life.
Apart from ransacking the houses of Sundar Dehuri, Bimba Dehuri, Bishnu Dehuri, the wild elephants are reported to have devoured rice stored by the trio. They further went on a rampage destroying the crops under their feet.
Incidents of man-elephant conflicts have become regular affair in these villages. When asked whether any alert issued by Betanati Forest officials, villagers declined to have received any alert order from the officials.
Jualibhanga grampanchayat sarpanch Sushant Kumar Singh said, “Our fellow villager Puin Dehuri died after being trampled by the elephant herd. Forest department has failed to take measures to protect villagers from the wrath of elephants despite repeated pleas. The forest department was supposed to issue an alert order in this regard to avoid such kind of occurrence. We will be grateful to the state government if compensation amount will be provided to the deceased’s family members.”
