Jamshedpur, Jan. 28 : Herds of wild elephants went on a rampaging spree in Kanderbera and Deoghar localities both in the foothill of Dalma close to the steel city on Sunday night.
One of the elephants at Kanderbera in Chandil forest range area injured a 51-year-old man, the another herd anchored at Deoghar in Mango forest range destroyed as many eight houses in the night.
Range officer, Chandil, Ashok Kumar said the victim Santosh Lohra who is a resident of Turiabera under MGM police station area was going to his duty at Chandil by riding a cycle.
“He was going toward Chandil on NH-33, about 18 kms away from here Jamshedpur, a tusker which was among a herd of 10 elephants attacked the man in its trunk, causing him to fall down. The man took out his sweater and threw it away, leading the tusker to get indulged in the sweater. After the day break in an hour, the victim shouted for help causing some passer-by came to his rescue,” said the ranger.
He said the victim has sustained multiple injuries in both of his legs and head and was admitted at the MGM Medical College Hospital. The ranger said the elephant herd is from Chaibasa and is still moving in Kanderbera and Dobo area under Chandil range.
In another incident, a herd of seven elephants from Dalm elephant sanctuary came to a nearby Deoghar village under MGM thana area and destroyed as many as four houses in the wee hours today.
Range officer (Mango) Rambabu Kumar said the herd was from Dalma and it returned to the sanctuary having destroyed the houses and eaten up paddy stock from the houses they damaged.
At several parts of the twin districts of Singhbhum, paddy crops were destroyed by herds of tuskers that have begun their annual migration through the villages. Rampaging herds of tuskers in the villages are forcing innocent tribal to spend sleepless nights.
In an area that boasts of a forest cover of 30 percent, the human-animal conflict is major concern of the people. In past one week cases of elephant�s regularly damaging standing crops have shot up.
Concerned over the spate of elephant menace during the past couple of days, the forest department officials in cooperation of the villagers have set up teams for driving away the elephants at the villages which are prone to be invaded by the migratory herds.
