Jamshedpur: Female tusker electrocuted at Kiriburi, forest department to conduct inquiry

Jamshedpur, Dec 18: A female tusker was electrocuted after coming in contact with a high-tension line at Kiriburu jungle under  West Singhbhum forest in the wee hours of Sunday. 

The female tusker which was in a herd came to the jungle and while crossing the stretch it came in contact with an 11,000 KV overhead power line belonging to Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL). Divisional forest officials confirmed the incident of electrocution of the tusker.

” It is really a sad incident. We are probing the mishap as per our information the tusker was electrocuted while moving toward a pond, and the fatal mishap took place due to the high-tension line,” said the official. 

 He said they will get a post-mortem of the carcass for which they are making arrangements.  The forest officer said they will conduct an inquiry regarding the electrocution of the tusker and lodge a complaint against the power department regarding this.

An official of JBVNL when queried expressed his unawareness about the electrocution of the elephant but said that he would get it inquired soon.  He soon sent a team for inspection.

Villagers,  including women, assembled at the farm. Some women smeared vermillion on the trunk and forehead of the elephant. Some also placed coins on the carcass and performed customary rituals.

An official of the forest department said that it’s the beginning of the winter season and so is the elephant menace. 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 a major concern of the people. In past, one-week cases of elephants regularly damaging standing crops have shot up.