Chhattisgarh plagued by wild killer elephants

India Enews.com
February 22, 2007
As many as 27 people have been killed by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh since April 2005, which includes 12 deaths this year, according to state Forest and Revenue Minister Brijmohan Agrawal.
All the deaths were reported from three northern districts - Raigarh, Surguja and Jashpur - that have most of their area under forest cover.
Chhattisgarh's vast northern region has become a man-elephant conflict zone with the government having deployed dozens of forest officials and guards in recent years. The guards are meant to protect the local forest population from elephant attacks and drive the huge animals safely back into the forests.
'During the year 2005-06, a total of 15 people were killed by wild elephants in Raigarh, Jashpur and Surguja districts and in 2006-07 (till Jan 27), elephants killed 12 civilians,' Agrawal told the state assembly Wednesday in a written statement.
Agrawal added that the state government had paid Rs.2.23 million as compensation to the families of the 27 victims.