Wild elephants destroy four houses in West Singhbhum’s Pokhartand

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Jan 29: A herd of six wild elephants descended from the nearby hill range and destroyed four houses in Pokhartand Tola of Raikera Panchayat under Manoharpur Block in West Singhbhum. The elephants broke the houses, consumed stored grains and destroyed household utensils. The affected families rushed out of their houses to safer areas. The incident, as reported by the villagers, occurred at 2 am.

Wild elephant herds have been destroying life and property in the Kolhan region for quite some time now. There have been earlier reports of people being mauled to death by these elephants and crops being destroyed by these pachyderms.

In the early morning incident of elephant attack, the houses of Jargi Barla, Birsi Kui, Somra Barla and Premsukh Barla were destroyed, their stored grains eaten up and household items including utensils crushed.

The affected people said that they were all sleeping in their houses when the elephants attacked their houses. Jargi Barla said, �We were all sleeping at that time. Weigh could hear the trumpeting of the elephants. Soon they started beating against the walls of our house. We were very scared and rushed out of the backdoor to a safer place. The elephants broke the barbed wire fencing around our house. They devoured our stored food grains and smashed household utensils. We have incurred heavy losses due to the elephant attack that has become a regular phenomenon in these areas.�

The Pokhartand Tola villagers stated that the Forest Department should pay compensation to the affected residents, sufficient crackers to chase away elephants and kerosene oil to light torches.

Anandpur ranger Manoj Kumar informed that forest department workers had met the affected villagers of Pokhartand. They have been asked to fill up the essential forms and photographs of the damaged houses. Manoj Kumar said that compensation would be paid to them within March.