COIMBATORE: Fear gripped residents of O Valley town in Gudalur after a wild tusker camped in the area. Two Class X students who were confined to their homes as the elephant is staying close by missed their board exam on Friday, and have appealed to the government to permit them write the exam on some other day.
The girls - Rashmidha (15) and Praveena (15) - reside near the estate where the wild tusker is camping. Hence, on Friday, they had to stay indoors. Their exam centre was 3km away, but they did not step out of the house in fear. The students have appealed to the education department to make special arrangements for them to write the science exam they missed.
On Thursday, the elephant trampled a 46-year-old tea stall owner to death. The victim, D Anantharaj of Aaruttruparai, was attacked by the elephant while he heading to his shop around 6 am on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Anantharaj's son, Gokul (15) attended his Class X exam on Friday despite the huge loss. He struggled to hold back tears as his mother and teachers encouraged him to write the exam.
Hundreds of villagers staged a protest demanding the forest department either chase the elephant away or capture it. They gave up the 5-hour protest after talks with foresters.
On Friday, forest department deployed two Kumki elephants - Srinivasan and Vijay - from Mudumalai in 'O' Valley Town to chase the tusker away. Villagers welcomed the kumkis and offered fruits. According to officials, the tusker is still camping there. The chasing process will be started on Saturday as one of the kumkis is tired after the journey, according to officials.