Barely a month since the incident of two elephants killing a person and injuring another in the Harishankar area has now come a report of these elephants damaging the houses and paddy field at Indupur and Dudukuapada and other nearby villages during last two days in the Larambha section in Patnagarh Forest Range in Balangir district. The elephants are damaging houses and eating paddy and rice stored in the houses by targeting the houses located a little separately from the main village. After damaging the houses, they are eating the paddy, said a forest official.The two elephants either are not getting their food in the forest or their food taste has changed. They are not eating paddy in the farmland pointed out a local.
Moreover, in the Upparjhar area of Balangir forest, a lone elephant has been damaging paddy crop since last fifteen days. On Wednesday night, the elephant was in the Makadchuan forest area, said a local. Forest officials are having a tough time in tackling the situations and trying their best to drive away the elephants into the forest.