Four people were killed in Sambalpur and Angul districts in the past two days and several houses were damaged in various parts of the State by marauding elephants.
The owner of a dhaba was trampled by a pachyderm along National Highway-55 near the Jujumura Range in Sambalpur.
Another person died in an elephant attack at Budhikhamar village under the Badamal Range in the district. Besides, elephants killed two persons in the Bantala Forest Range in Angul district.
The loss of lives and properties occurred at a time when Forest Department employees are on a protest against the killing of two Foresters by poachers in the Similipal sanctuary recently.
Th forest employees have refrained from patrolling duty. As a result, elephants from forests are straying into several villages and urban areas across the State causing widespread damage to life and property.
Even, three wild elephants strayed from the Bharatpur forest near Sikharchandi hill in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and unleashed a reign of terror in the area. The herd destroyed anything that came on their way in Ganesh Vihar. Though local people informed forest officials about this, the latter allegedly didn’t drive away the elephants due to their strike.
