DHENKANAL/BHUBANESWAR: Three persons were trampled to death by a tusker near Baghadharia village under Hindol forest range of Dhenkanal district early on Thursday morning.
Sources said the incident occurred at around 5 am when the deceased Karunakar Dehury (72), Jhulana Dehury (63) and Shashi Sahu (65) of the same village went to the local pond to attend nature’s call and take bath. As they reached the spot, they came face to face with the full-grown tusker roaming in the area, and were attacked. While Karunakar and Jhulana were crushed to death on the spot, Shashi succumbed at the Hindol hospital.
While the Forest department suspended Hindol ranger Goutam Pradhan along with forester-cum-beat-in-charge of Rasol Lusimita Singh for dereliction of duty, tension gripped the area following the death of the villagers. Irate locals blocked the old Cuttack-Sambalpur road for nearly four hours with the dead bodies alleging that the incident happened due to lack of timely warnings from the Forest department. They sought compensation for the families and strong measures to check human casualties in man-animal conflict. The blockade was called off after police and forest officials assured them of taking concrete measures to tackle elephant menace in the area.
The forest authorities announced Rs 10 lakh ex gratia to the next of kin of each deceased as per the provisions of compassionate grant in the event of death due to wild animal attack. “The compensation will be provided to the families of all three deceased who lost their lives in the incident. Strict action will also be taken against the officials who have been found negligent in their duties,” said Forest and Environment minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia, while expressing grief over the loss of lives.
Singkhuntia said following the instructions of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, he has directed the department officials to investigate the matter and initiate appropriate action.
He has also asked forest officials to maintain strict vigil on elephant movement in Hindol forest area and strengthen early warning systems for the local people. Instructions have been given to work in coordination with local communities to reduce human-elephant conflict. “If forest department officials fail to take appropriate precautionary measures to prevent conflict, strict action will be taken against them,” he warned.
PCCF Wildlife Prem Kumar Jha said the families of the deceased were assured of Rs 10 lakh compensation each, of which Rs 1 lakh will be disbursed within 24 hours.
Dhenkanal DFO Sumit Kumar Kar said field staff have managed to drive away the tusker to a nearby forest and are now monitoring its movement. He said, at present, there are around 200 elephants within Hindol range, which has made monitoring a challenging task.
“More than 100 protection squad members have been deployed to monitor movement of elephants in the range. An additional 25 volunteers have also been mobilised now to intensify surveillance, particularly along the affected area,” the DFO said.