Villagers claim elephants from Nepal damaged crops, officials say no

Pilibhit: A herd of 30 to 35 elephants of Nepal’s Royal Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve strayed into Tatarganj village in Pilibhit district on Sunday afternoon and damaged standing paddy and sugarcane crops. Tatarganj, a remote village in trans-Sharda region, is located on the Indo-Nepal border.

However, both sub divisional magistrate, Puranpur circle, JB Singh, and the commandant of 49the battalion of SSB, Dilbag Singh, denied that the herd had caused extensive damage.

According to villagers — Kulwant Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Karnail Singh, Hardutt Singh and Santokh Singh — a herd of 30 to 35 elephants entered the Indian territory from Nepal and wreaked havoc on their standing cane and paddy crops across 25 acres. The herd also destroyed a thatched-roof house near the affected fields.

One of the residents, Kulwant Singh, alleged that forest staff of Sampurna Nagar forest range of district Kheri were informed about the marauding wild elephants but they extended no help to the villagers.

On being asked about this, commandant of SSB Dilbag Singh quoted the report sent to him by SSB border post personnel who said the herd of elephants had intruded into Tatarganj from near border pillar number 30 and damaged around 100 quintals of sugarcane. The herd retuned to Nepal after sometime, he said.

Sub divisional magistrate of Puranpur JB Singh also denied any damage to crops by elephants. He said, “I am returning from Tatrganj after inspecting the reported area. The villagers have fabricated a false story about massive damage to standing crops by the elephants with an intention of filing claims for compensation.

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