The villagers of Gosani block are staying in panic due to elephant menace. A herd of seven jumbos, including three male, as many female and one baby has entered into the block since October 2.
The affected villages are Mahadevipura, Gurandi, Golagana, Sana Katuru, Pada Katuru, Adagan, Menapura and others areas. The pachyderms have destroyed 50 acres of standing paddy crops so far n last few days. They are staying in the dense mountain of Gosani block during day time and entering into the villages during night to damage the paddy.
Forester Prakash Chandra Bisoyi said theses jumbos have come from lakhare jungle to Mahendragiri foot hill near Tumba jungle through a corridor. He said that in the last three months, these jumbos too had come to the same area during mango, banana, and coconut cultivation.
However, this times the elephants instead of going back to the jungle are coming near the village and destroying paddy because the villagers are pelting stone and scaring them away with fire.
The Gajapati Forest Department is doing necessary work to chase away the elephants into the jungle peacefully.
Meanwhile, the villagers allegedly said that the forest officials have completely failed to drive away the jumbos. They attributed the frequent straying of the elephants into human settlements to loss of habitat and food.
Gajapati District Forest Officer Rohit Kumar Singh said that the officials are guarding the area. He assured that compensation would be provided to the victim farmers as per rule.