Durjay Paswan, Gumla: These days, people of Srinagar, Chatakpur and Kodi villages located on Jari and Chainpur border of Gumla district are afraid of the menace of wild elephants. Every day wild elephants enter the villages and create havoc. But despite all this, the forest department is sleeping peacefully. Even on Wednesday night, an elephant entered Srinagar village and created a ruckus and destroyed the house of a woman named Devanti Devi. Besides, 50 kg of paddy kept in the house was also wasted.
When the victim’s family member Lagani Devi was asked about this, she said that all of us in the family were taking rest after having dinner at night. Meanwhile, at around 12:00 in the night, the wild elephant entered Srinagar village and first started demolishing our house. When we reached there after hearing the sound of elephant and house breaking, we saw that the wall of one side of our house had collapsed. After this, somehow we escaped from there to save our lives and called out to the people living nearby.
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The victim’s family further said that after hearing our voice, people reached the spot and tried to drive away the elephant. After a lot of hard work, we finally succeeded in driving away the elephant. The victim’s family members have demanded compensation from the administration. He said that even a month ago an elephant had destroyed our house. We have not received the compensation amount till now. If the same incident happens to us again, where will we go?
Forest department ranger gave this argument
Meanwhile, when Zilla Parishad member Dilip Badaik got information about the incident, he gave 50 kg rice and cash assistance of Rs 500/- to the victim’s family. He has appealed to the Forest Department to not only give compensation to the villagers but also think about driving away the elephant. If the Forest Department does not take any initiative in this matter then all of us villagers will be forced to protest together. The entire responsibility for this will be of the Forest Department. When forest department ranger Jagdish Ram was asked a question in this regard, he said that we are trying our level best. But our efforts have not been successful. Let it be known that wild elephants have been camping in Srinagar forest for 10 months. Because of this there is an atmosphere of panic in the area. Wild elephants keep coming and going to Chainpur and Jari blocks. But now the solution has not been found.