Elephant menace continued unabated in several mandals of the district. A herd of elephants trampled crops in five acres in Jimbada area of LN Peta mandal, causing uproar among the farmers on Friday. Recently, the pachyderms wrecked a havoc in Chintammanuguda village of Kotturu mandal too.
With alleged poor coordination between Revenue and Forest officials, the locals are not able to get compensation immediately. The Revenue Department is supposed to assess the damage and recommend the compensation amount. As many as seven deaths were reported in the last few years and the crop loss was estimated to be more than Rs.1 crore in the last one decade. Locals alleged that revenue officials were lax in assessing the crop damage.
The elephants entered Andhra region from Lakheri forest of Odisha seven years ago and never returned to their native forest area owing to availability of abundant water and food in Palakonda region. The government had announced ‘Operation Gaja’ following an uproar from the locals over the frequent attacks. A trench was also proposed to be dug. but it was stopped due to non-availability of funds. Such attackes have become order of the day in many villages of Palakonda, Kotturu, Hiramandalam areas. The Forest Department proposed to send the pachyderms to one of the zoological parks to prevent damages in the district. “We have recently written to the Centre seeking nod to send the elephants to zoological park. We can take up further action only when the government accepts the proposal,” said a forest official.
