Vehicular traffic between Rishikesh and Doiwala has been suspended indefinitely from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to protect human beings from being attacked by elephants in the Satmod area, where a rogue tusker had killed five persons on the highway last year.
Although the elephant was claimed to have been tamed by the forest officials, the menace continues with elephants coming out on the highway after dusk. The pachyderms sometimes turn violent at the sight of vehicles and the noise of blaring horns and are reported to have chased human beings over the past few weeks. Two persons were killed in the nearby Bibiwala forest recently.
The elephant issue in the Rishikesh-Haridwar area finds its roots in the fragmentation of the natural habitat by development projects and encroachments over the decades — leaving groups of elephants in small pockets where fodder and water gets scarce in winter. Moreover, the pachyderms seem to love the crops in villages.
