Locals panicked after marauding elephants stalk Rautahat villages

Chandrapur, Jan 10: The people in Rautahat district have been panicked after the marauding elephants began stalking their villages.

The elephants that come from nearby Parsa National Park are creating terror among the people of Chandrapur, Gujarat, Brindawan, and Phatuwa Bijaypur. The pachyderms are also damaging crops like corn, potatoes, and wheat. Even the banana trees are flattened and houses are damaged by the wild animals. The banana plantation in a ropani of land at Gaidatar and Judibela in Chandrapur-3 is destroyed by the elephants.

Seven hundred banana plants of fruit-bearing time were damaged, according to a farmer, Lal Bahadur Dong. He has been involved in commercial banana farming on leased land. He shared the plight that it was a huge loss to him because there was no insurance for this fruit.

Even the property of his neighbors Hark Ghising and Chameli Maya perished in the wild animal invasion. The farmers from Gaidatar also shared a similar plight of damages in their crops and plantain trees. A herd of elephants dismantled four houses at Phatuwa Bijaypur municipality-11 and eight at Chandrapur municipality.

Santa Bahadur Rumba, Mina Rai, Chhenam Singh Lopchan, Bali Maya Lopchan, Bomjan Saila, Subash Thokar, and Saila Gole lost their houses in the incursion of the pachyderms’ herd. The damages were also recorded at a park constructed in the Kalapani Community Forest Users’ Group.

Meanwhile, the Chief of the Division Forest Office, Hemant Prasad Sah, said there was no option but to apply modern tools to control elephants. He further said cooperation was sought from the local levels to purchase the equipment to control elephants. —RSS