Panic gripped villages locatednear the steel city of Rourkela in Odisha with peopleapprehending jumbo attack as a herd of elephants wreaked havocin the area in last few days.
On the night of March 3, two pachyderms had almostentered Sector-16 locality here before they were chased awayby the locals.
In the next two days, on March 4 and 5 a groupconsisting of over 10 elephants have made life miserable forthe residents of Luakera village, a village adopted byRourkela Steel Plant (RSP) under the CSR (corporate socialresponsiiluty) project.
On March 4 night, the herd entered Luakera village anddestroyed one asbestos house of one G Mundari. Seeing theelephants the members of the house vacated and ran to safety.
However, they had left behind one baby girl which wassleeping inside. Fortunately the pachyderms never saw the babyand left after ransacking the house.
On the very next day they again entered the villageand destroyed vegetable crops before leaving. Onevillager in Luakera said, We are scared but also remain alertto save our lives and properties.
The herd is currently roaming around Brahmani hillnear Kuarnmunda and made life miserable for people inRiun, Kacharu, Nuagaon and nearby areas. This is for the firsttime they are venturing into this part.
Last year one tusker went on rampage in thejungles of Sundergarh sadar, which is believed to be part ofthe same herd, and killed one person.
Forest officials said the situation is being monitoredand necessary steps would be taken to deal with the jumbomenace.