A herd of about 3 dozen jumbos has created panic in Barkagaon-Keredari blocks of Hazaribagh district in the new year. In the night of and January 1 and 2, it destroyed many houses in different villages of both blocks. The officials and staff of forest department are trying hard to pull the herd out of their area with the help of villagers but the jumbos are still roaming. On December 31, this herd of jumbos was first seen near Hendegir Railway Station. Due to their presence, the railway traffic on Barkakana-Barwadih route got hampered for hours.
On 1 January, the herd entered the Keredari block and destroyed the houses of villagers named Mohan Munda, Bhokenwa Devi, Sita Devi, Mangura Munda, Sipta Ganjhu, Shukra Ganjhu, Amrit Ganjhu, Banwari Ganjhu, Bhodra Ganjhu, Butni Devi, Savitri Devi and of village Patal, Bundu, loharsa and Tillaiya and ate the food grains stored in their houses. On 2 January, with the help of forest officials and staffs the villagers tried to remove the herd from their area and in this attempt the herd got divided into more than two groups.
One group of 19 jumbos having 3 kids entered into the Barkagaon block area while some moved towards the Urimari area and some are still in Keredari block.On Friday night, the herd entered into Khatariyapani village of Barkagaon block and created havoc. It destroyed the wheat crop and damaged the houses of Nilesh Tirkey, Suleman Tirkey, Sunil Tigga, Daso Tigga, Nemash Tirkey, Gansha Tigga, Manav Tigga and others. In the morning of 3rd January, the herd was in Chelandag forest area which is near the famous tourist spot-Barso Pani of Barkagaon block. The forest officials have announced compensation to all the victims but the villagers are finding hard to believe them because the already victims of jumbo rampage of 2014 are yet to receive the compensation.