Jamshedpur: A tusker was electrocuted after coming in contact with a high-tension line at Kharsawan jungle under Seraikela forest division in Seraikela-Kharsawawn district around 25 km from Jamshedpur, on the wee hours of Monday.
The tusker which was in a herd came to the jungle near Tinagora village and while crossing the stretch it came in contact with 11,000 KV overhead power line belonging to Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL). Seraikela divisional forest officer, Ashish Narayan 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 at Tinagora, and the fatal mishap took place due to the high-tension line,” said the DFO.
Narayan said they will get a post-mortem of the carcass for which they are making arrangement. The forest officer said they will conduct an enquiry regarding the electrocution of the tusker and lodge a complaint against the power department regarding this all.
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 had soon sent the sub-divisional officer (Electrical), Kharsawan division, Sandeep Kumar Paswan to the spot for inspection.
Villagers, including women, assembled at the farm . Some women smeared vermillion on the trunk and forehead of the elephants. 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 Monsoon 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 major concern of the people. In past one week cases of elephant�s regularly damaging standing crops have shot up.