Elephants On Rampage Spree In Sundargarh & Kalahandi Dists

Sundargarh/Kalahandi: There seems to be no end to man-animal conflict in Odisha. A 10-year-old boy was trampled to death by an elephant herd, which also pulled down several houses and damaged standing crop at Amarudi village under Banki forest range in Sundargarh district late on Wednesday late.

The deceased boy was identified as Biswanath Munda. The elephant herd entered the house of one Debendra Munda when the family had retired to bed. While everyone ran for their life, the boy was crushed under the feet of the elephants and died on the spot.

On getting information, police reached the spot and sent the body for the postmortem.

According to locals, the herd had been on the rampage, destroying crops, since last four days.

Kin of the deceased will get compensation in accordance with the the law, informed forest department officials.

In another incident, a wild tusker entered Uddhabpada village under Kinjrikela police limits in Sundargarh district on Wednesday.

The tusker has been wreaking havoc in the area. The forest department officials are monitoring its movement and efforts are on to chase it into the forest.

According to Forest officials, the elephant has been separated from his herd.

Mukhiguda of Kalahandi district too is bearing the brunt of elephant attacks. The villagers are living in a state of panic with the herd entering the habitation after sunset for the past two days.

Th elephants have already destroyed acres of paddy field and two houses in the village.

“We will submit a report to the government on the damages,” said forest department officials.