DHARMAPURI: A 68-year-old farmer, guarding his field, was killed in a tusker attack at Sengodapatti village near the Palacode forest range on Monday morning. The family of the deceased and the villagers staged a road roko blaming the forest department’s failure to protect people.
M Duraisamy was guarding his field, where he had recently planted groundnut, from wild boars. On Monday, he went in search of a tusker wandering near his farmland. Startled by Duraisamy’s presence, the elephant attacked him. Local residents immediately informed the Palacode Forest team, who rushed to the spot and sent Duraisamy to Palacode GH, but he succumbed to his injuries on the way.
Following this, nearly 50 residents from Sengodapatti and surrounding villages along with Duraisamy’s family staged a road roko condemning the death. The protestors said, “It was only a few months ago that a man from Theetharapatti village close to our village was also killed by an elephant. There has been no warning from the forest department about the movement of elephants and we are living in fear.”
When TNIE spoke to Forest Ranger P Natraj, he said, “We had been tracking elephant movements in the vicinity at night, but this is often difficult when it’s dark. We regret this incident. Our forest department has issued Rs 50,000 in compensation and an additional compensation would be provided later.”