Villagers seek protection from raiding elephants

| | Haldwani
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Villagers seek protection from raiding elephants

Monday, 18 November 2019 | PNS | Haldwani

Elephants continue to frequently visit villages near the forests in Halduchaur area of Haldwani range under the Terai west forest division. On Saturday night, a herd of elephants entered the Gangapur and Bametha Bangar Kheema villages and damaged sugarcane on many bigha of farmland. The local villagers have requested the local MLA and administration to ensure their safety from elephants.

According to the locals, on Saturday night, a herd of elephants broke through a wall and entered the villages in Halduchaur area. The pachyderms spent most of the night in the sugarcane fields, trampling the standing crop on many bigha of land. The villagers complain that elephants frequent visit villages in the area after sunset.

Villagers are staying awake at night in an attempt to protect their crops. The locals further complain that they have complained on several occasions to senior officials of the local administration and forest department.

However, the necessary measures have not been taken. They have also requested the local MLA Navin Dumka to facilitate their protection from the pachyderms.

Meanwhile, a delegation headed by district Panchayat member Mohan Singh Bisht met the Nainital district magistrate Savin Bansal at his camp office in Haldwani.

Submitting a memorandum to the district magistrate, the delegation members informed him that in the Halduchaur area of Terai west forest division, Gangapur, Krishna Navad, Indrapur-Tejpur, Haripur Bhandev, Motahaldu and other settlements adjoining forest areas are frequently visited by elephants who destroy wheat, paddy, sugar cane and other crops in the fields. Farmers suffer considerable losses every year due to the pachyderms.

Apart from the loss to farming, the villagers also face danger to their lives and property from the jumbos. The delegation members further said that the forest department has not taken any action to protect the villagers from the elephants, adding that the affected persons do not get proper compensation.

They demanded that solar fencing be erected in vulnerable areas, increased patrolling by forest department, provision of firewood for the fires to deter jumbos at night and reviving the elephant corridor to enable movement of the elephants there instead of in the villages. The district magistrate assured the delegation of appropriate action.

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