Rampaging elephants killed two people and destroyed crops in a number
of villages of north Chhattisgarh in separate incidents.
The deaths were reported on Monday from a village in Wadrafnagar block
of Balrampur district. According to forest officials, nine wild
elephants had entered Torfa village of the district in the intervening
night of Sunday and Monday.
The herd had entered the village from Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary.
They first ate and then destroyed corn crop. When elephants were
running amok, a villager identified as Jagatram (20) went out of his
house to check on his herd of buffaloes. However, as ill luck would
have it, he came face to face with the jumbos. Before Jagatram could
flee, one of the wild animals lifted him up with its trunk and banged
him on the ground, resulting in his instantaneous death.
The jumbos also trampled to death 55 year-old Harakhlal who was
sleeping outside the village at a place where cattle are kept. They
then returned to Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary in the early hours of
Monday.
After receiving information about the incident, forest officials
visited the village on Monday morning and prepared compensation cases
of both deceased persons and destroyed crops.
In another incident, three wild elephants that have strayed from their
herd entered Gopalpur village in Rajpur block of Surguja district on
Sunday afternoon. Almost the whole village gathered and began chasing
away the elephants. However, before leaving, they destroyed corn and
paddy crops in about seven acres of area.
Meanwhile, a herd of half-a-dozen elephants are camping in forested
area around Salka and Salba villages on the outskirts of Baikunthpur,
district headquarters of Korea for about four days. During intervening
night of Saturday and Sunday, a calf was born to the same herd.