A herd of wild elephants wreaked havoc in Dalpatpali area of Rengali block by destroying houses and rendering many families homeless. The affected families are now taking shelter at the village primary school.
The victims whose houses were destroyed were Hrushikesh Suanani, Bighneswar Sunaani, Sushama Bahnja, Santosh Bhanja and Kunduru Deep.
They also destroyed the paddy kept in the houses, utensils, cycles, motorcycles and other household articles. The villagers tried to chase away the wild elephants but in vain.
Rengali tehsildar lambodar Dharua said, “The elephant have completely demolished houses of five families at the Pipalpara in Dalpatpali.
Fourteen members of the five affected families are now taking shelter in the school. We have also started free kitchen for them,” said Rengali tehsildar lambodar Dharua.
“These families have also been provided with clothes, sarees and blankets. We have written to the District Collector to provide houses to all the victims under the ‘Mo Kudia Yojana,” Tehsildar Dharua added.
Rengali forest range officer SC Khuntia, who went to the spot for loss assessment, informed that there were 30 elephants in the herd. They entered into the village on Friday night and completely destroyed three houses. The elephants caused severe damages to the paddy crop and household articles.
“An assessment of the loss has been completed. We will submit the report to the DFO and the District Collector. The affected families will be compensated as per the relief code,” Khuntia said.
“This particular village is located adjacent to the Jharsuguda forest range. The wild elephants from the neighbouring range come to this side at night only. However, we have deployed special elephant squad at Rengali and Sardhapali to prevent the elephants from entering into villages and causing damage in Rengali area,” Khuntia said.