Betla Tiger Reserve officials Palamu are of this opinion that the herd of elephants that damaged a Government-upgraded primary school at Kalpurwa was for the rice of the mid day meal (MDM). The elephants damaged this school on the intervening night of January 18 and 19.
Tiger Reserve’s Ranger Nathuni Singh said elephants go amok when they sight paddy and rice. Here too in this school the elephants had a hunch for rice because of the mid day meal.
DS Srivastava Member of State Wildlife Board said as this school is said to be giving MDM to its students where cooked rice is served the raid of the elephants is well understood.
A 14-year-old boy Sabir Ansari corroborated the version of Srivastava.
Starch on the campus near the place of rice cooking in this school is the biggest temptation for the elephants. The elephants have unhinged an iron door of this school. Earthen hearth the elephants do not destroy any, said another victim Monniya Devi.
A resident of Betla Santosh said the MDM rice led to the damage of this school by the elephants. Basmatiya Devi wife of Pantu Ram of Chechani Tola said, “Elephants have damaged our cooking utensils. They have flattened our utensils, which bore the wrath of the heavy foot of the elephant.”
She even said one baby elephant played with the utensil like football. Srivastava said this herd seems to be pretty fond of eating stored grains. He said, “I have examined a sample of elephant dung. This dung has undigested paddy grains, maize and leaves of bamboos. Fresh dung is useful to decide the content of food of any elephant.”
When reminded that any storage of grains like paddy, rice, maize are most vulnerable to raids and destruction of it by elephants Srivastava said the villagers be asked to hide their grains in some water tank (read pani tunki that one keeps on roof top for supply of water in house) and the water tank be buried two feet down the ground so that elephants may not dig it out for grains stored there in.
He said, “We have submitted ‘Integrated Wild life Management Plan for Saranda wherein we have suggested that poor villagers be provided with pani tunki wherein they will store their food grains and this pani tunki be buried two feet down the earth to save it from elephants’ digging it up.”