Tusker From Chandaka Strolls Around Odisha Capital; 2nd Incident In Two Months

Bhubaneswar: A tusker kept the forest department and police on their tenterhooks for over an hour on Sunday midnight as it strayed into Maitri Vihar and Salia Sahi in Odisha capital.

According to sources, the tusker strayed into the city from from Chandaka wildlife sanctuary through Bharatpur. It roamed in Maitri Vihar area for more than one hour before being shooed toward Salia Sahi slum by the panicked residents. It left the city after an hour of painstaking effort by the forest department officials and the police.

“It came to the city around 12 am and returned at 1.30 am. No damage to property or injury to humans has been reported. The trained forest personnel handled it effectively. There was no use of force nor were crackers burst to drive it away,” divisional forest officer (Chandaka) Md Jamil told TOI.

This was the second incident of elephant straying into the city in the last two months. Four elephants had strayed into Sikharchandi hill, a popular hangout of people, on March 24 and then returned to the sanctuary on their own.

In November last year, a tusker crossed Sundarpada railway tracks and moved towards Pokhariput passing by the habitations close to the CM’s house in Palaspalli area.

Notably, trench dug up around Chandaka wildlife sanctuary to keep the elephants from entering the city has been filled up at many places. Even the boundary wall has been breached at some spot allowing the elephants to stray into Bhubaneswar.