BARGARH: A herd of 22 elephants roaming on the fringes of Barapahad hill range has compounded the woes of farmers of the area. The marginal farmers, who are already struggling to save their crops following drought in the area, have put up on trees for the last few days to guard their crops from elephants.
The elephants, which frequent the villages, have so far destroyed standing paddy crop in more than 500 acres of land in Dungri, Launsara, Jarimuli, Bungapali, Tamdei, Khola, Lether, Junani and Karla villages under Ambabhona block of the district.
Though it has been over 45 days since the herd has been roaming here, no step has been taken by the Forest Department as yet to either drive away the elephants from the area or assess the damage, alleged a villager.
The herd has reportedly strayed into the hill range from Hemgir forest in Sundargarh after crossing river Mahanadi in 2007 and have found a safe habitat in the range.
The elephants could not be counted either during the Census as they come out only when the paddy is ripe enough to feast on and return back to their habitat soon after, said sources.
The elephants are seen in Dechaun Reserve Forest and Ushakoti Reserve Forest in the hill range during day and enter the villages at night.
The situation is worse in Dungri where about 200 acres of land has been destroyed in the last fortnight.
Although anti-smuggling squad and para forest force have been formed in Bhatli forest range to chase away the elephants, indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned has rendered the squads useless.
As per information availed under RTI, in 2012-13 crop in 894.93 acres of land had been damaged in 149 villages and 12 houses were damaged by elephants while in 2013-14 crop in 567.83 acres have been affected in 121 villages and five houses damaged in the district.
In 2014-15 crop in 1199.475 acres of land in 189 villages have been damaged by elephants and three houses destroyed.
Dungri Forester Sudam Jagdala said although officially there is no elephant in the district, the Forest Department will assess the loss and provide compensation to farmers at `10,000 per acre.