Elephants raid villages

A herd of 22 elephants damaged at least six houses at Lahragora Tola in Hazaribagh district and ate away grains stored there, a forest official said today.
"The elephants entered the village last night and damaged the houses and ate away the grains," P Thanga Pandiyan, the Divisional Forest Officer (Hazaribagh-West) Forest Division said here.
The residents fled their village, he said, adding the pachyderms assembled at the tri-junction of three forest divisions - Koderma, Hazaribagh West and Giridih - creating problems for them.
Experts of the forest department were sent to the affected village to assess the quantum of damage inflicted by the animals so that compensation could be paid to the villagers.

In the meantime, the forest department has provided the villagers twenty kg rice and 15 litre kerosene, he said.
Monetary compensation would be given only after the assessment, he added.
Experts from West Bengal were asked to help in driving away the herd, he said.