Wild jumbos cause panic in Chattisgarh village
By IANSFriday, March 26, 2010
RAIPUR - A herd of wild elephants have sneaked into the residential pockets of a forested area in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district giving sleepless nights to villagers, a forest official said Friday.
“After a month-long gap, the jumbo menace is back in the state, this time in Raigarh district. A small group of elephants entered into residential areas along Punjipathra-Gharghora Road Wednesday night, demolished a house and injured a person,” Raman Somawas, a forest ranger posted in the district, told IANS over phone.
He said that about 40 families in the area have not slept since Wednesday night as jumbos are still camping in the locality.
A forest department team was sent to the area Friday morning to chase away the elephants.
Officials at the forest department here say that the state’s vast northern region comprising Surguja, Jashpur, Koria, Korba and Raigarh districts are hit by man-elephant conflicts.
In 2009, 29 people were trampled to death by elephants. The state government paid Rs.42 lakh as compensation to the families of the victims.
The same year, the government also distributed over Rs.1.71 crore as compensation to farmers after the forest department registered 9,600 cases of crops being damaged by wild elephants.
