One trampled to death by elephant in Ch'garh; houses ransacked

A 40-year old man was trampled to death by wild elephants inDhamni range of Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, officials said today.
Enraged over the incident, villagers held the forest employees hostage and released them only after assurance from senior forest officials and police.
The victim identified as Gopal Pando was attacked by the wild elephants in Village Belsar under Dhamni forest range yesterday leaving him dead on the spot, Balrampur Division Forest Officer BP Singh said.
The local villagers also claimed that at least 37 houses were damaged by the wild elephants in past four days in the village, he said.

After receiving the information of the incident, a three member team of the forest department was rushed to the village to take stock of the situation and ensure immediate relief to villagers.
As the employees reached the village, the villagers annoyed over the incidents, locked them in Panchayat building, Singh said.

However, soon they were released after getting assurance from forest and police officials to take necessary action in this regard, he added.
The efforts are underway to drive away the elephants from nearby the villages and forest personnel have been directed to keep a close vigil in the area, he added.

The compensation will be soon provided to the villagers for the loss of their property and kin of the deceased as per the provisions, he added.
The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, are notorious for humanelephantconflictincidents.
The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogueelephantin past years.