PARVATHIPURAM-MANYAM: The herd of seven elephants including a calf has been giving sleepless nights to the residents of several villages as well as the forest officials for the past few days in Parvathipuram mandal by destroying standing crops, trampling vehicles and creating havoc.
The herd had earlier trampled Devabattula Yacoob (74) of Peda Bondapalli to death besides attacking a vehicle and concrete mixer and destroying tender coconut plants.
Forest officials on Wednesday promulgated section 144 in Venkampeta and surrounding villages to avoid any untoward incident after the herd created havoc in the village. Parvathipuram range forest officials reached the spot and drove the elephants to away from the village when the wild tuskers tried to venture into Venkampeta. District Forest Officer (DFO) GAP Prasuna visited Venkampeta village and sounded a high alert by promulgating section 144.
Speaking to the media, the DFO said, “The herd has ventured into Parvathipuram mandal for the first time. Actually, the male tusker Hari supposed to show the path to the remaining seven elephants. However, the male tusker Hari separated from the herd and went to Odisha. Thus the seven elephants entered into plain area and lost their path. In addition, a female elephant gave birth to a calf a couple of months ago. The mother elephant is quite aggressive to protect its calf. Now the herd is facing difficulty to cross the railway track at Konavalasa to go back its original habitations at Duggi village in Komarada mandal.”
Adding that the forest officials are monitoring the tuskers continuously, the DFO said, “The herd is roaming in the plain villages under Parvathipuram mandal for the past few days. We have been continuously monitoring the elephant’s movements with the help of trackers and alerting the locals through the megaphones with the help of local police and revenue personnel.