Two adult tuskers strayed into Mahasamund late Monday night and rampaged the standing crops at Machewa and Paraskol villages on the outskirts of the town and created panic among residents of the two villages.
The villagers have assembled at the area where the tuskers have taken shelter. Police and ground staffs of the forest department were maintaining the law and order situation.
District Forest Officer (DFO), Mahasamund, Alok Kumar Tiwari informed The Pioneer that these tuskers strayed from Sonabeda region of neighbouring Odisha and were camping since long in jungles of adjoining Gariaband district.
Tiwari further informed that the ground staff of the forest department had already taken their position and are driving the tuskers away from their circle towards Gariaband. The tuskers are being guided along the canal and their drive would be geared up during the night hours on Tuesday.
“We are waiting for dusk and we will step up our drive to push the tuskers away from Mahasamund”, he said.
He further accepted that the tuskers have damaged the crop of villagers and said that due compensation amount would be paid to them for loss of crop.
