The elephants that have migrated to Nilgiri from Jharkhand continued to add woes for the villagers. The pachyderms besides damaging houses are also eating the stored foods and grains.
In the daytime, while the elephants are taking shelter in the forests, at night they are moving out to villages. On their way they are damaging paddy crop which is due for harvest.
The villagers, despite an appeal by the Government to stay in school buildings, are panicky and fleeing from homes with many of them taking shelter on tree tops.
The road communication between Nilgiri in Baleswar district and Udala in Mayurbhanj has been cut off as the road has become the movement area of the elephants. As many as 95 pachyderms have been camping in Nilgiri for last 12 days while another group consisting of eleven elephants is following them.
The Baleswar district administration has started free kitchens at two places after agitations by the locals. It has also resorted to power cuts in the area to prevent electrocution of the jumbos, as a result of which the entire area is plunged into darkness.
The villagers fearing entry of the elephants have been spending sleepless nights and burning fire around the village boundaries. They demand solar lights under the prevailing circumstances. District Congress president Kartik Mohapatra, who visited the jumbo-affected area, too demanded solar lighting system.
Mohapatra also gave Rs 5,000 as ex-gratia to the family of Hati Dingh who was trampled to death by an elephant recently. Range Officer of Kuldiha Sanctuary Rabinarayan Mohapatra said, “The elephant herd is camping around the Tinikosia forest. At times, they are entering Kuldiha and again going back to Tinkosia. While another herd of eleven is coming towards Nilgiri from Mayurbhanj, one tusker of the group has already arrived. Forest department personnel are monitoring the elephants’ movement with the assistance of villages, volunteers and police.”