A herd of 22 elephants barged into the house of former Union Minister Yashwant Sinh and his son Union Minister Jayant Sinha on November 19, damaging the boundary walls first and then the standing crops. Sinha's house Rishab Vatika is situated at Demotand of Hazaribagh, some 6kms away from town. This was second time when elephants entered in Rishab Vatika in last few years.
Yashwant's wife Nilima Sinha said the herd damaged potato and tomato besides trampling banana trees. She said something should be done in this regard to put a check on elephants' menace. She said in Chattisgarh, elephants provided enough food in forests so that they do not stray into villages. The State Forest Department should also take similar action, she added.
According to regional chief conservator of forests, Sanjeev Kumar, the Union Minister's house falls in the corridor of elephants. He said department has prepared a route chart (read corridor) of elephants stretched in four districts namely Hazaribagh, Chatra, Ramgarh and Koderma. He said in this corridor in which Sinha's house fall, elephants find bamboos which they loved to eat and so keep visiting here every year. He said this herd now moved away from Demotand and reached Ichak where a team of experts from Bankura keeping eyes on their movement.
Sources said in year 2013, elephants entered in Canary Hill area of town unleashing a reign of terror among residents besides damaging properties. Again in 2016, similar incident took place. Forest department sources said as elephants are in Ichak area close to Canary Hill, they are on alert this time.
Kumar said people should avoid going closer to elephants for selfie as it could be a risk on their lives. He said this herd is in this area from last three months killing four including the two who went closer to take selfie. He said they were assessing the loss and ensure compensation for loss of lives and properties. He said corridors of elephants now having human settlements and so they didn't get food and water properly resulting in such incidents regularly. He said for loss of life, victim's relatives get Rs 4 lakh as compensation whereas for injuries, the amountis Rs 1 lakh.
