Raipur (Chhattisgarh): The elephant menace has gone up in Chhattisgarh despite the state government's efforts to rehabilitate wild pachyderms. The reign of terror created by these wild elephants has caused fear psychosis among people. People are sleepless nights.
During the past three days, three people were trampled to death by the elephants. The three deaths were reported from different districts in the state. The elephants trampled to death three youths in Balrampur, Marwahi and Surguja areas of the state.
On Thursday, a herd of elephants trampled a shepherd who had gone to the forest for grazing his goats. The incident happened at Kanakpur village under the Ramanujganj forest range of Balrampur. The shepherd was surrounded by a group of elephants. He was crushed to death by the wild beasts.
In the second incident on Wednesday, a herd of wild pachyderms killed a youth at Parsa village in Ambikapur. The youth was going to his field to pluck vegetables when the incident happened.
On Wednesday also, a herd of five elephants raided the Marwahi village. The elephants ran amok in the village. The wild beasts damaged houses and standing crops. A villager was crushed to death.
Chhattisgarh is covered with 59,772 sq km of forest. The state has 44.21 per cent of forest area. The forest comes under the Ambikapur, Korba, Jashpur, Korea, Raigarh, Mahasamund, Gariaband, Dhamtari, Balrampur and Surajpur districts of the state. These areas have the highest density of elephant population. These wild elephants often stray into human habitations situated close to the forest in search of food and water.
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