Despite the presence of two kumkis near Thadagam, to prevent wild elephants from entering human habitations, a herd from the forests entered farms on Sunday night and damaged crops.
The kumkis -- Cheran and John -- were posted at Varapalayam at the foothills of Ponnuthu Malai.
But, the herd from the wild managed to get into the farms and raid the crops. Consequently, the Forest Department decided to deploy two more kumkis.
The elephants damaged 75 young coconut palms belonging to Damodarasamy, a farmer. They ate the palm leaves and the delicious inner core that attracted elephants.
Before returning to the forest, the herd also raided banana trees in other farms and destroyed burners that were actually kept to scare them away.
Farmers, who were assured by the Forest Department that damages caused by elephants would come to an end with the deployment of kumkis, were agitated over the crop raid.
They wanted the department to strengthen patrolling to prevent elephants from entering agricultural fields.
Meanwhile, visuals from a surveillance camera of a house at Pannimadai showed three elephants walking on the road. A source said that the video was a surveillance camera at a house at Classic Village that was close to Varapalayam.
The elephants -- a tusker, a calf and an adult female -- were seen in the visuals with their legs and trunk wet as if they had just crossed a water body.
Sources from the Forest Department said that two kumkis --Bomman and Vijay -- who were brought from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and stationed at the Chadivayal elephant camp, would be deployed in the conflict zone, to keep the wild elephants away.
The Hindu tried contacting District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh to know about the future course of action and on efforts to pacify the villagers. But he was not available for comment.
