JAGATSINGHPUR: Hundreds of farmers, who had been staging demonstration in front of the forest office at Dhartangada from Monday demanding compensation to those whose crops were damaged by deer, called off the stir on Tuesday after an assurance by the forest officials.
Dhartangada forest, which is situated in Raghunathpur, is home to hundreds of deer. The animals stray into agriculture fields in search of food damaging paddy and vegetable crops in the process, resulting in heavy loss for farmers. Apart from paddy, the animals feast on green gram, brinjal, cucumber and ladies finger grown in abundance in around 11 villages near the forest.
Crops on several acres of land at Ramchandrapur, Gopalpur, Kakudia, Salijanga, Deulishai, Erandphal, Kaladhari, Pandara, Pitamabarpur and Puranabasant villages, situated near the forest, have been destroyed by deer. Earlier, the affected villagers had demanded that barbed wire fences be erected to restrict the animals from entering agricultural land. No steps have been taken by the Forest department in this regard, the protesters alleged.
On Tuesday, two foresters, Rajendra Kumar Samantaray and Sukant Behera, visited the affected paddy and green gram crop lands to assess the loss. They interacted with the affected villagers and asked them to apply for getting crop loss compensation following which the agitators called off the stir.
Forest Range Officer Balaram Sahoo said the department has constructed salt licks in different places to provide food for deer. It has also been decided to bring ‘Mohua flower’ from other districts to solve the food problems of deer. Water tank will be installed in different places to mitigate the drinking water problems of deer, he added.Similarly, the department has given a proposal to the State Government for erection of barbed wire fence. Earlier, the department had disbursed `2.04 lakh to the affected farmers towards compensation of crop damage, he added.
Deer casualty
The deer also face a threat to their lives as they have to cross a railway line to reach the villages. Nearly five deer were run over by a goods trains on Paradip-Cuttack railway line on different occasions.
On February 4, three deer of a herd died after being hit by a goods train at Salijanga on Cuttack-Paradip railway line. Another deer died in the last week of February. A deer died after being hit by a train last week while crossing the railway line in quest of food.
Zilla Krushak Sangthan secretary Babaji Charan Jena said barbed wire fence will not only save crops but also restrict the entry of deer, which die in train accidents.