In an unfortunate incident, an elephant killed one Yadav Rana (45) of village Brahmani under the Harishankar Forest Range in Balangir district on Thursday night.
The jumbo, after coming to the village at around 9 pm, began damaging Rana’s house. When Rana came out of the house, the elephant killed him on the spot. The elephant stayed at the village overnight and attacked another person, Tarani Bhoi (35) on Friday morning leaving him seriously injured.
Harishankar Range Officer Sribatsa Kumura said, “getting information, we reached the spot in the morning and facilitated shifting of injured person to the Khapraphol medical for treatment.” Since last two days, the elephant was moving in Chabripali, Bhanupali and adjoining villages eating paddy crop. “We believe the elephant has come from the Padampur side of Bargarh district and we are keeping a watch on its movement. The jumbo is now inside the forest near a village of Gandhmardan forest,” said Kumura to this correspondent over phone. Balangir Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Nitish Kumar said, “We have initiated the compensation-giving process; and by today evening, Rs 40,000 (10 ten percent of the total amount) would be given to the deceased’s family; and we would complete the payment of compensation within a fortnight.”