BALASORE: A herd of 35 elephants, including five calves, continues to wreak havoc in villages close to Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary in Balasore district.
The elephants from Dalma forest in Jharkhand entered Nilagiri forest range last week, moved into Kuldiha and damaged harvested paddy, vegetable and fruit crops along with many thatched houses in several villages in the periphery of the forest.
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Forest officials are facing a tough task in driving the animals back into Dalma forest as the herd has broken up into small groups and is changing its location every day.
The elephants have entered villages near the Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary and also damaged banana orchards and jackfruit trees.
An elderly man, Chaitanya Majhi of Sataranda village, was injured in elephant attack on Sunday and is undergoing treatment at Nilagiri hospital.
Forest officials said the animals are putting up in the forest in the morning and entering villages only during evening. The panic-struck villagers are burning tyres and wood in the nights to keep the animals away.
The elephants damaged houses of Ramchandra Singh, Budu Singh, Samabari Singh, Hardibandhu Singh, Guruba Singh, Punia Singh, Duragi Singh and Shymsundar Sinku, all residents of Tenda and Sataghati villages, which are worst affected.
While distcom officials are resorting to power cuts in the area to prevent elephants from entering human habitations, some villagers have to flee to their relatives’ houses fearing elephant attack.
Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Nayak visited the affected villages on Tuesday.
DFO Biswaraj Panda said elephants from Jharkhand migrate to Balasore during this season every year in search of food.
He informed that so far, the elephants have completely damaged 10 houses and a few more were partially damaged. Forest guards and members of Sabhuja Bahini are keeping a close watch on their movement and all measures are being taken to prevent them from entering human habitations, he said.