Forest officials grapple with jumbo problem
A 42-year-old woman was killed by a tusker in Nilgiri in Baleswar district on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Phulamani Singh of Tulasidiha of Nilgiri block, who died in the District Headquarters Hospital here while undergoing treatment.
The victim encountered the mishap while she had gone to answer nature’s call to a nearby forest. Nilgiri Forest Range Officer laxman Kumar Pradhan said, “The tusker had not entered human habitation last night. It attacked the victim when she went to forest in the wee hours on Sunday. The elephant has migrated from Jharkhand.”
“About 25 Forest Guards in two vehicles are going to the forest areas to track this tusker every day after sunset. We face difficulties to monitor the animal’s movement since it is alone,” said Kuldiha Range Officer Rabinaryan Mohapatra.
A departmental meeting held on Friday had stressed on the safety of the tusker as well as villagers and emphasised on a future plan to combat the annual migration of pachyderms from the Dalma sanctuary of Jharkhand via Bengal generally witnessed by the end of November each year. The affected villagers demanded compensations for the jumbo victims besides shelter homes in the forests like the cyclone shelters.
DFO Harsh Bardhan Udgata said, “We are trying to disburse the pending compensations amounting to around `15 lakh by a weeks’ time. We have dug trenches and erected solar fencing in some areas. A proposal for construction of shelters in forests has been sent to the departmental authorities.”