A herd of about 10 elephants went wild at two separate villages in the foothills of Dalma wildlife sanctuary late last night spreading panic amongst the villagers.
The elephants, who were returning from the jungles of Bankura and West Midnapore in neighbouring Bengal, damaged the brick wall of at least 11 one-room homes at Gerua and Narga and later targeted an ashram near the Dimna lake, about 13 km from here.
When contacted, Dalma range officer R P Singh said the elephants damaged the brick wall of a house belonging to one Bimal Agarwal and also partially damaged a grill and broke a glass window of an ashram belonging to disciples of Asaram Bapu.
“I went to the spot and spoke to the villagers. We have distributed firecrackers among the villagers,” Singh said. Compensation would be given to the affected villagers after going through the extent of damage he informed.
Meanwhile a villager said: “We are forced to spend sleepless nights. Our lives are at risk due to rampaging elephants. Elephants regularly venture into villages, destroy houses, damage standing crops and even trample people to death. We are forced to work like a ‘night guard’ to save our lives and crops”. He said that rampaging elephants are a cause of concern. Some measures need to be adopted and there is need to do more to protect the people.
Meanwhile, villagers have said that they feared for their lives and the safety of their crops and had even put together groups of youths who were taking turns at night to keep vigil. They said that forest department must take immediate steps to provide safety to the villagers.
“We are desperate to find a permanent solution to the decades-old man-elephant conflict we will work hard to help keep the wild jumbos from civilian forested areas,” a forest department official.
A farmer Naren Mahto of Narga said elephants damaged standing crops and also wiped out potatoes from his farm. A forest staff also said the elephants were returning from Bengal and happened to cross Gerua and Narga. “We have asked villagers to remain alert. The elephants must be are stationed somewhere near Gerua,” he added.
The pachyderms migrated to Bengal in August-September last year. Some, including terror tusker Don, are back home while others are on their way to the sanctuary.
Abundance of water and fodder had held up jumbos in forest of neighbouring Bengal. Jumbos generally return home to the reserve by the end of January or at the most February.