A herd of 17 Jumbos is on rampage these days in the remote areas of Naxal prone Tatijharia block of Hazaribagh district. last night the herd entered in the Panimako village of the block and destroyed five houses, killed the pet animals of villagers and crushed their vegetable crops.
The residents of Panimako village remained in panic whole night as the herd was moving here and there in search of food in the village till 3 a.m. in the morning. The herd destroyed houses of Daso Tudu and Jageshwar Tudu so badly that from tonight where they will stay with their family members no one knows. The herd ate 3 bags of rice and maize along with Rs. 3000 cash kept in the bags and crushed the pet cow and goat of Daso Tudu. At Jageshwar Tudu’s house the jumbos ate seven bags of rice, two bags of maize, mahua, paddy, land papers and even the ration card.
Sita Muni lost her Rs. 5000 kept in the bag of rice in this new attack of jumbos. last year too jumbos had eaten the rice and maize kept in her house. Jumbos also damaged the houses of Fagu Tudu, Shyam Sundar and Sibu Tudu and destroyed their fields where they have just sown paddy and maize.
The entire area which in grip of jumbos rampage nowadays is inhibited by villagers who are either daily wagers or small farmers who hardly earns bread for their family members daily. Since there is no irrigation facility in this area so they get only one crop from their field which is the only hope for them for entire year and jumbos are specially targeting on those stored food grains.
On Thursday a team of leaders of both BJP and JMM visited the village and took a close look of the spot. Villagers said them that every year the jumbos use to create panic in this area but administration is doing nothing. The leaders consoled them and said that they will talk on this issue with the higher forest officials.
On the other hand BDO cum CO Tatijharia Moni Kumari said that I have sent a staff to assess the damage done by the jumbos last night. He will submit his report tomorrow and then I will be in a position to say anything.