Residents of Herhunj and Balumath in latehar district heaved a sigh of relief after the herd of about 20 elephants has gone back to Chatra. More than two dozen houses were destroyed by the elephants. Food grains and crops too were trampled. About half a dozen goats came under the feet of the jumbos.
Now there is the relief. The young IFS officer the DFO latehar Mamta Priyadarshi did what she had told The Pioneer. She had told The Pioneer that the herd of elephant would return to Chatra. And she got it done.
Speaking to The Pioneer on Thursday she said the herd of 20 elephants has now been sighted in Simarya under Chatra district. She had said one thing more. It was no loss of human life by this herd of the rampaging elephant. Sources said the residents were alerted to remain at bay from elephants. High sound crackers and k oil to cause fire were made available to the villagers most vulnerable to the anger of the strayed elephants.
And there occurred none. Mamta Priyadarshi said the gots came under the feet of the jumbos only to die a crushing death. The owners of the goats would be punished. If the cow is the victim of elephants wrath here too is the compensation.
Twenty one applications for compensation have reached her office till date. This number is to shoot up she said. Compensation for damaged/destroyed houses is to be decided on its kachha /pucca status and built area besides liveable or not liveable condition. It is 3.000 ruppes for a got to come under the leg of the jumbo she said.
It was a Silli team of fourteen people that got this jumob herd out of latehar. The herd had strayed from Bengal and had reached latehar and border of Palamu via Ramgarh. Sources said driving out jumbos is a highly expensive affair and it took days for this. The DFO Core of the PTR said it costs roughly 5,000 to 5,500 rupees a day for the elephant drive team for which no exclusive fund ever comes.