A herd of wild elephants has destroyed 19 houses belonging to Scheduled Tribes and damaged grains and properties of over Rs 2 lakh during their three-day stay at villages Korhati Tola of Bargarh, Semarkhand and Parswar village under Bargarh block of the district.
Those houses were damaged by the tuskers belong to Baijnath Singh, Bhajan Singh, Shayam Bihari Singh, Ramnandan Singh,Surya Deo Singh, Sheobarat Singh, Sheo Bhajan Singh of Semarkhand village.
Residents of several villages have started migrating from the area out of fear. Bhandariya CO Abhay Kumar Jha, Deputy commandant of CRPF 172 battalion N Sakiya visited the site on Friday. CO directed to the dealer of the village to available 30 kg grain to the victims. Forest Ranger Aggustin Tigga also reached at the spot and given crackers to the villagers.
The natives of Bargarh block in the district are living in constant fear after the herd of wild elephants came reportedly from neighbouring Chhattisgarh played havoc since Tuesday night. The villagers as well as local police and forest personnel had sleepless nights to ward off the unwanted disaster. Presently, the locations of wild animals was found in the bordering area of Chhattishgarh. Crossing the UP-Chhattisgarh border the elephants entered in Barkol, Semarkhand, Parswar. Baherakhand, Dilwahi, Kulhi villages around 8 pm on Tuesday night. According to locals, furious elephants around 17 in number started destroying the houses and damaged the food grains put in the houses. The scared villagers saved their lives by fleeing from the scene, and spent whole night away from the village at a safe distance.