A herd of 40 Dalma range elephants invaded the Bankura villages close to Midnapore (West) after midnight last night and destroyed potato crops and paddy at least on 200 bighas. The herd, which also included six calf elephants returned to Ramgarh forests in Midnapore (West) on their own in the early morning hours today.
The forest officials meanwhile have deployed watchers to keep track of the movements of the wild herd. At around 9 pm on Thursday, this year’s first herd of the migratory elephants from the Dalma ranges in Jhatkhand invaded the Bankura district stretches crossing the Kansavati river.
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The herd first ravaged the potato fields in Dumurtore village in Raipur block and then amidst unseasonal winter drizzles, marched through the farmlands of the villages of Brahmandiha, Belekole, Makurdaha and Gargariya and destroyed ‘Pokhraj’ variety of potato crop on at least 60 bighas which were close to be harvested.
The affected villages fall under the Sarenga Forest Range in Bankura. Nearly three dozen farmers, among them Mongal Duley, Narasundar Patra and Prasanta Mishra, assembled at the Sarenga Range office today morning and complained that the herd destroyed their potato crops worth more than 5 lakh rupees.
The forest officials meanwhile apprehend that the herd may return to the villages in a day or two. “The herd returned to Ramgarh forest in Midnapore West in the early morning today but it is likely that it would come back. Due to the rain the calves in the herd were not moving faster and because of that, the elephants returned to their known temporary habitat in Ramgarh forests toda. We are keeping track of their movements,” said Rajiv Lama, Forest Range Officer, Sarenga.
