Elephant herd creates havoc in Jharsuguda

Taking advantage of the dry reservoir of Hirakud, a herd of elephant have entered into the Jharsuguda district and create havoc destroying vegetables and houses.Forest department officials said the elephants from Debrigarh sanctuary from one end of the reservoir reached Lakhanpur area on the other end of the reservoir few days back. And due to plenty availability of food and vegetables they are in no mood to return to their parent place in Debrigarh and Barpahad.

A herd of 19 elephants from Debrigarh forest entered Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district a month back as the reservoir was completely dry. They moved round the forest areas ,the human habitations and villages of the Lakhanpur block of the district.A few days back they entered into the house of one Gouranga Khadia of Pujaripali village and ate 10 bags of paddy. They also caused severe damage to his house, sources from Jharsuguda forest department said.

"From June 15, these elephants are creating immense damage to the villages. We drove them towards Chhattisgarh but they came back again," said Belpahar Forester Hemanta Sahu.Jharsuguda DFO Susanta Kumar said that the elephants are moving in and around the Hirakud reservoir and sometimes entering villages. "But if we break their group, they will be very wild. Hence, we are keeping a watch on them and would drive them away at a suitable time," the DFO said.But the panicked villagers wanted the forest department to become more active and drive the elephants to Barpahad again before rise of water level in Hirakud reservoir otherwise they will stay in this new area and create more damage.

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