A herd of 30 marauding elephants has been giving sleepless nights to villagers of Sundargarh district for the last three days. The elephants have already damaged huge acres of standing crops, besides four houses.
Sources said the elephants are regularly sneaking into Kedimang and nearby villages spreading terror in the area. Some panicky villagers left their homes on Wednesday evening to save their lives.
Sources further informed that about 30 pachyderms, including three tuskers, have strayed into the Kendudih forest from the Badramba sanctuary of the Bamra Wild life Division.The elephants are staying in Kendudih forest during the day and coming over to the nearby villages to devour paddy and vegetables in fields at night.
The Sundargarh Forest Division is contemplating to initiate an operation to drive away the herd on Thursday evening, said Sundargarh DFO Arjun Behera.